Alternate Family
by DancingDuck98
Summary: A fanfiction about the family the doctor would collect to keep him company if things ended differently. Great if you love Jack, Rose, Donna, Jenny, River the Tylers and Doctor number 10. Includes backstory to Gallifrey and includes characters from torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures. But hey, still the whoniverse! (Rose and the doctor together, because what other way is there?)
1. Chapter 1 Fatherly affection

"It means a new world." The Doctor announced with a grin. The happy grin and breathy giggle jenny let out in response seemed to fill the hollow place in his heart. Maybe he was wrong and Donna was right and that part of him had not died, maybe ... his thoughts were cut off by the panic in her eyes.

"No!"

It happened so fast. She shifted in front of him as the shot rang out, ripping through her chest. Blank shock replacing the elated feeling as she collapses in his arms.

"Jenny? Jenny, talk to me, Jenny." Martha and Donna drop to the floor with them. Tears begin to pool in Jenny's eyes.

"Is she gonna be alright?" Donna's tone is low and concerned. The reply, Martha's frantic shake of the head.

Jenny's Hand on her chest where the shot has punctured her body. "A new world. It's beautiful." she whispers, her voice fading in volume as she gets weaker.

"Jenny. Be strong now. You need to hold on! You hear me?" the Doctors voice choked with emotion. "We've got things to do you and me, hey? Hey? We can go anywhere, everywhere. You choose." He looks deep into her eyes, she is in pain. It hurts him too, as long buried paternal empathy bubbles to the surface.

"That sounds good," she breathes, a sad little smile on her face.

"You're my daughter," he can feel the double heart pulse against his hand on her face. "And we've only just got started." So little time, he had only just accepted she was real, and now she was fading. "You're gonna be great. You're gonna be more than great, you're gonna be amazing! You hear me, Jenny?" Why wasn't she regenerating? She was his daughter, she was like him. Her eyes started closing.

"Jenny!" he was beginning to feel frantic. He searched on her exposed skin for the golden hue of regeneration. Her eyes were closed and her pulse was slowly stopping. "Two hearts Jenny! You're like me! Do what we do! Jenny!"

"Let go, there's no sign doctor. There's no regeneration. She's like you, but maybe not enough." Martha's tone was gentle. The gentle tone that was practiced by doctor's over thousands of years, to tell loved ones of losses.

"Enough," the doctor echoed. "Enough." He gathered her close to him. "Not enough, without the full amount, needing more." He paused for breath realising what he must do. "Don't you see Martha? She just needs a little more of me!" He closed his eyes taking a deep breath, feeling his blood begin to run as a tide, the artron in his system activate and mobilise.

"Doctor no! It might not even work, you could just drain yourself for nothing. She gave her life for you don't you see?" Martha begged him.

"What are you gonna do?" demanded Donna.

The doctor continued to breathe deeply, panting out short sentences, between the pulses of golden light his body seemed to radiate. "Protecting is my job." A shimmery ripple, "I would gladly risk myself." A brighter wavelike pulse. "She is my daughter." He leaned in and kissed her forehead, pinching her nose, opening her mouth and breathing into it a stream of golden light energy.

Her body seemed to glow and the watching humans and hath looked on in mesmerised fear. The doctor rested his head against her chest, waiting in silent desperation for the restarted thumping of a heart beat. The silence lasted forever.

"That was so stupid, Doctor!" Martha berated him. "How many years have you just taken off your life?"

Donna put her hand on Martha's shoulder. "Doctor let her go," she took a step towards him and he made an angry little shushing noise.

A weak thrumming flutter seemed to issue from under his ear. He let out a single relieved beat of laughter. Jenny jerked in his arms and her eyes opened, as she drew in a sharp gasp of breath. There was a stunned silence, broken by the whimper jenny let out, followed by a frail wail and her hands beginning to claw feebly at her chest.

"I know, I know it hurts Jenny, It'll be over soon, I know, I know..." the doctor kept crooning gently in a comforting voice, alternating between English and a lilting musical tongue that seemed to resonate in their minds. He pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and pointed it upwards, pressing the button. The sounds of the TARDIS materialising echoed around the garden. He threw the key at Donna.

"Unlock the TARDIS, Martha run ahead to the med bay." He hoisted jenny up and tucked her against his chest as if she was a small sleeping child, and ran with her. Donna slammed the door and pounded after them.

"What did you do to her, Doctor? Somebody please tell me what's going on!" Donna shouted as the Doctor began to hook up Jenny to various monitors.

The doctor began to speed-talk at them. "Artron. Regeneration energy. Lent her some, well I say lent, but I can't get it back. Her body is using it to repair. She can't regenerate by herself. She hasn't been taught the old ways. Gave her one hundred and forty years of my life approximately. My mother did the same for my sister, once upon a time. Martha how's she doing?"

"She's fine, it's like her muscle fibres are knitting back together," Martha gasped in an awed voice.

"Good! Give her a sedative and she'll wake up healed tomorrow. Now let's get out of here." He got up and strode towards the door. Donna caught his arm.

"Are you alright doctor? Really alright?" she asked him gently. Both her eyes and Martha's rested on his face.

"Course I am," he answered shortly. He patted her shoulder and left the room.

"Which is Timelord speak for 'no I'm really not okay'," Donna muttered. "I think almost losing a child hurt him more than he's letting on." Martha had nothing more to offer. Donna had said it all, the doctor was probably silently brooding in the room they were banned from.

Jenny awoke to a cold hand stroking her temple. She turned her face towards it and force her eyes open. She heard a gentle shushing and that a few words in a songlike language that she couldn't understand, yet seemed so familiar, and brought comfort and reassurance.

She slowly sat up and rolled her shoulders back, stretching the tight feeling in her chest. The brown eyes of her father bored into hers. "Are you hurting?" he asked her his voice low. She shook her head.

"Wh-wh..." she coughed to clear he throat, he voice dry from disuse. "Where's Martha and Donna?"

"I took Martha home and Donna is passed out in her bedroom," he replied, the expression in his eyes so tender.

"Bedroom?" she asked, her expression puzzled.

The doctor looked at her as if she was mental. "Yeah, bedroom. Room with a bed in it. Where she keeps her stuff, you know a bedroom."

"Like a dorm? Or a bunkhouse? But for one person!?" she stared at him incredulously as if he was pulling her leg. "That wouldn't be practical!"

He took her hand gently. "Jenny, this isn't army quarters this is the TARDIS. Anything is practical." He worried about her, how lacking was the basic info they downloaded to the children of the machine?

"Can ... can I have one..." she trailed off under the funny look he was giving her. "That was a stupid question, don't work I don't need one - " he put his finger against her lips.

"Jenny you're my daughter you could ask me for anything and I'd get it for you," he kissed her cheek before continuing. "But yes that was a stupid question. because you've already got one!" he pulled her of the med bed and held her hand. "Alons-y!"

Donna was woken by a shrill squealing. She shot out of bed after the noise, deeper into the TARDIS than she had ever been before, up a set of spiral stairs and in front of an enormously tall arched doorway. Next to it was a shorter arched doorway, which stood open, light spilling across the landing. Jenny was jumping up an down like a little kid.

"... of course I don't know if you'll use it much, the children of Gallifrey don't need much sleep-"

"Thank you thank you thank you I love it!" she shrieked, and his sentence was cut off by an armful of Jenny.

"Well done – dad," said Donna, leaning against the doorway. He turned and gave her a grin.

"Donna this is brilliant! Look how thrilled she is, all I had to do was give her a bedroom. Such easy parenting," he laughed as he pulled Jenny into his side, her head resting against his chest. Their grins were practically identical.

"So if you're my Dad..." Jenny trailed off. "What does that make Donna?" she finished gesturing at her.

"A human..." answered the Doctor in a confused voice. "I'm a time lord, you are a child of Gallifrey and Donna is a human."

"No I mean like what is Donna to me?" Jenny was looking between the pair of them in a suggestive manner.

"NO!" Donna and the Doctor exclaimed at the same time. "I thought we already cleared this up, we aren't a couple," added Donna.

"Not together. Never," the Doctor backed her up.

"Never ever."

"Ooh! Don't say that Donna," the Doctor winced.

"Sorry to wound your oh so massive ego, space man but we," she gestured with her finger , "are never gonna happen, you skinny little nothing!"

"Just the phrase Donna. It's not okay." He walked out of the door and onto the landing.

"What's with the phrase?"

"That's how you lose a person." He slammed the two enormously tall doors closed behind him.

"What does he mean Auntie Donna?" asked Jenny, looking fearfully at the doors that had caused the echo that still seemed to shake the TARDIS.

"Auntie Donna?"

"Well he loves you, but he doesn't like _like _you, so... any way you named me, seems appropriate. What did he mean?"

"He means he misses his girlfriend," Donna said simply, not really knowing what else to say. "Night Jenny." She turned and descended the spiral stairs, leaving a concerned, bewildered child of Gallifrey behind her.

Jenny lay down on her bedspread with a million questions buzzing in her mind. Questions about parents and aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters. Questions about a shared suffering and who she was. Who her dad was. And this mysterious woman who no one seemed to talk about.


	2. Chapter 2 First trip to earth

"Oh smell that air! Grass and lemonade, and a little bit of mint. Just a hint of mint, must be the 1920's," the doctor announced emerging from the TARDIS. Donna was looking sceptical but Jenny was looking round with bug eyes, full of wonder.

"You can tell what year it is just by smelling?" Donna asked him, in a voice which clearly told him, 'I think you're bullshitting timeboy'.

"Oh yeah." The doctor confirmed with an indignant whine in his voice. Jenny giggled at his attempt at an honest looking facial expression.

"Or that big vintage car coming up the drive gave it away?" the three of them began to walk in the direction she was pointing to, hiding behind the wall of the house and eavesdropping.

"- all's right with the world," exclaimed a dog collared man on a bike.

"Reverend Golightly," said the butler with a nod. "The Lady Edison requests that you make yourselves comfortable in your rooms, cocktails will be served on the lawn, from half past four."

"You go on up. I need to check something in the library, alone," replied a balding man with a bowtie.

"It's supposed to be a party! All this work, be the death of you!"

"Never mind planet Zog! A party in the 1920's, that's more like it!" gushed Donna.

"Trouble is, we haven't been invited ... Oh I forgot, yes we have!" the Doctor grinned, waggling the psychic paper at her.

"What does that mean? 1920's," asked Jenny.

"Oooooh yes, little bit of back-story. This is the earth, Donna's home, home of the humans, love humans; humans are my favourite, anyway, this is the 1920's, a decade about eighty-ninety years behind where I got Donna from, and they have Party's." The doctor babbled slinging his arm around Jenny's shoulders.

"and cocktails and amazing fashion!" squealed Donna.

"You know where the wardrobe is, take Jenny with you," he muttered. This was going to take a while. Women.

"This dress is absolutely perfect for you Jenny! You look like you've fallen out of a movie set! Now tell me honestly, does mine look too short?" Donna asked the question with the utmost sincerity.

"You look great, Auntie Donna." Jenny answered with a grin.

"Are you going to keep calling me that?"

"Yes," Jenny decided. "You make the perfect Auntie. You bully my dad like a sibling anyway." She looked back at her. "What did you mean about him missing his girlfriend?"

"Well I don't know for sure if she was his girlfriend officially or anything, but I think he loved her. He lost her, and he can't see her again. He's very lonely. You do him good, you know that?" Donna announced in a matter of fact tone as she put in matching earrings.

"Why is he so lonely?" Jenny had confusion in her eyes. "He has you, and now me- "

"His people are dead Jenny. He's the only one left, other than you. No Time Lord girlfriend for him. You should ask him Jenny. It's not my story to tell." They began to walk down stairs together. There was a loud thumping coming from the TARDIS door.

"We'll be late, for cocktails," The doctor shouted exasperatedly.

The door creaked open and Donna struck a dramatic pose. "What do you think, Flapper or slapper?"

"Flapper, you look lovely." The Doctor told her with a grin, holding out his arm. "Where did jenny go? I meant it when I said we would be late!"

"I'm here," she announced closing the door behind her. "I had to negotiate the spiral staircase in these stupid shoes!" she wiggled her foot to show of the offending three inch heels. "Auntie Donna why do people wear these?"

"They make your legs look long, your bum look tight and that go with your outfit! What's not to love?" Donna announced as if it was the most obvious set of facts in the universe.

"Why would I want my bum to -"

"Never mind that jenny! Now hurry up you to or we're going to miss the introductions," he cut Jenny off and began to walk briskly, his arm still linked with Donna's. "Don't go talking about hot legs or a tight bum in front of Jenny! I haven't done the protective dad thing before and I can't handle starting now, I'm still adjusting to having her at all -" he whispered furiously

"Oh have you only had sons then?" Donna asked him. "I mean either that or you space people have a whole new gender going on –"

"Oh no Donna, no. Jenny is my fourth daughter," he turned around. "You keeping up okay Jenny?" he called back. Donna could see he wanted to change the subject. Her mind whirled. Three other daughters? That was just daughters; he had said nothing about sons. How many people had he lost? Had he lost them before they had grown up?

"Hobbling along," she called back. The doctor grinned as they walked across the stretch of lawn, where servers were bustling about. A record was playing in the background.

"Look sharp, we have guests!" barked an Indian woman that they took to be the house keeper.

"Good afternoon!" called the Doctor cheerfully, with a grin and a wave in greeting.

"Drinks sir, ma'am, miss?" a footman asked as he walked over.

"Sidecar please!" announced Donna in an inflicted posh voice.

"I'll have some of that lemonade then," announced Jenny, walking forward to stand next to the Doctor.

"Aaaand a lime and soda please."

"May I announce Lady Clemency Eddison!" the butler called, as a petite older woman with blond hair came forward. The doctor turned to greet her, arms outstretched.

"Lady Eddison!" he exclaimed taking her hand.

"Excuse me, but who exactly might you be? And what are you doing here?" she asked with an easy grace.

"I'm the Doctor and this is Miss Donna Noble. Of the Chiswick Nobles, she's travelling alongside myself and my daughter Jenny." He pointed at each of them in turn. Jenny gave a little finger wiggle wave.

"Good afternoon, my lady. Topping day, what? Spiffing! Top hole!" Donna chuntered, the posh voice back with a vengeance.

"No, no ,no, no, no," the doctor whispered to her. "Don't do that. Don't." Donna stupidly closed her mouth, and he could feel Jenny trying to stifle silent giggles behind his back.

"We were thrilled to receive your invitation, my Lady. We met at the ambassador's reception." He mentally crossed his fingers that she would do the British thing and...

"Doctor how could I forget you?" she covered with a charming smile. Bingo! "But one must be sure with the unicorn on the loose."

"A unicorn? Brilliant! Where?" He asked excitedly.

"No, the unicorn. The jewel thief? And nobody knows who he is. He's just struck again, snatched Lady Babbington's pearls from right under her nose," she told them in scandalised tones.

Donna took a sip of her exotic looking cocktail. "Funny place to wear pearls."

"My I announce the colonel Hugh Curbishly, the honourable Roger Curbishly!" the butler called to the assembled. A young well dressed man came forward pushing an older man in a wheelchair.

"My husband," Lady Eddison gazed down at him lovingly, "and my son," she finished a little more briskly.

"Forgive me for not rising, never been the same since the flu epidemic back in '18," the colonel boomed jovially.

"My word, you are a super lady," Roger said to Donna, who practically glowed with the praise.

"Oh! I like the cut of your jib, chin chin." The posh voice was back again.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor. This is my daughter Jenny," he announced gesturing to Jenny as he shook Roger's hand.

"How do you do?" he returned, gazing between Jenny and the doctor.

"Very well," the doctor replied.

"As am I," giggled jenny.

The footman appeared with a cocktail on a glass tray. He approached Roger. "Your usual sir?" he asked in a voice suggesting he knew him well.

"Ah, thank you Davenport. Just how I like it." He kept eye contact with the footman as he took a sip.

"How come she's an Eddison but her husband and son are Curbishlys?" Donna asked the Doctor quietly.

"The Eddison title descends through her. One day Roger will be a lord." He answered her.

"Like you?" jenny asked in hushed tones.

"No, no, no. I'm one of a kind, well one of two of a kind, well one of one of a kind of two of a kind. But one day, if you survive, you'll be a lady."

"If I survive what?" Jenny whispered worriedly.

"My horrible teaching," he replied with a grin. "They don't just give the title of time lord away."

"Oi space man! They just announced Robina Redmond while you two were nattering," disciplined Donna, thwacking his shoulder.

Lady Eddison turned to the three of them, arm outstretched. "She's the absolute hit of the social scene, a must," she turned back round. "Miss Redmond!"

"Spiffing to meet you at last, my lady. What super fun!" the woman greeted with a charming grin. Lady Eddison began to introduce her to the other guests.

"Reverend Arnold Golightly," announced Greeves the butler.

Lady Eddison reached out to shake his hand. "Ah reverend. How are you? I heard about the church last Thursday night. Those ruffians breaking in."

"You apprehended them I hear," boomed the colonel.

"As the Christian Fathers taught me, we must forgive them their trespasses. Quite literally," he responded with a benevolent smile.

"Some of these young boy's deserve a decent thrashing," stated Roger disapprovingly.

Davenport gave Roger an intense meaningful look, "Couldn't agree more sir."

"Typical," Donna huffed, "all the decent men are on the other bus."

"Or Time Lord's." The doctor's self compliment, and attempt at nonchalance, where met by a cold, quelling look from Donna.

"What's the other bus?" whispered Jenny.

"They're gay, falling out the closet, _cock_tailers –"

"Oh look Donna! Another guest," cried the doctor cutting her off mid flow. Jenny looked at where he had gestured and while she was looking away he mouthed at Donna 'shut up, it'll be me who has to explain '_cock_tailers' to her later'. Donna gave him a look, which clearly said 'Grow a pair'.

"-A lady who needs no introduction!" crowed Lady Eddison. The crowd clapped.

"No, no, please. Don't. Thank you lady Eddison. Honestly, there's no need." The woman approached the crowd with an awkward shyness, and held out her hand to the Doctor. "Agatha Christie."

"What about her?" Donna asked bluntly.

"That's me," The woman said as if it were obvious.

"No! You're kidding." Donna's mouth fell open.

"Agatha Christie! I was just talking about you the other day. I said 'I bet she's brilliant'. I'm the doctor and this is Donna. And Jenny. Ohhh, I love your stuff. What a mind! You fool me every time. Well, almost every time. Well, once or twice. Well, once. But it was a good once!" The Doctor gushed.

"You make a rather unusual couple," Agatha stated in a puzzled tome of voice.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, we're not married." He denied as Donna said, "we're not a couple."

"Well obviously not, you don't look old enough to be her mother," she gestured to Jenny, "and no wedding ring."

Donna looked down at her hand and laughed.

"You don't miss a trick," the doctor answered. Slinging his arm over Jenny's shoulder.

"I'd stay that way if I were you. The thrill is in the chase, never in the capture," Agatha stated with a wry smile.

Lady Eddison claimed Agatha's attention and Donna began to excitedly fill Jenny in on who Agatha was. The doctor walked forward to swipe the paper off colonel Curbishly's lap. Donna and jenny laughed half heartedly at a joke about Belgian buns.

"I say, where on earth is professor peach? He'd love to meet Mrs Christie," asked Roger.

"Said he was going to the library," put in the reverend.

The doctor beckoned the girls to walk over to him.

"Miss Chandrakala, would you go and collect the professor? Asked Lady Eddison.

"At once, Milady." The house keeper began to walk back across the lawn to the house.

"The date on this newspaper," the Doctor said in a hushed tone. Jenny leaned in interestedly putting her chin on his shoulder.

"What about it?" Donna asked him.

"It's the day Agatha Christie disappeared. He gave them both meaningful looks, before beginning to explain. "She'd just discovered her husband was having an affair."

"You'd never think to look at her. Smiling away," Donna commented. Jenny Just looked confused.

"Well, she's British and moneyed. That's what they do. They carry on. Except for this one time. No one knows exactly what happened, she just vanished. Her car will be found tomorrow by the side of a lake. Ten days later, Agatha Christie turns up at a hotel in Harrogate. Said she'd lost her memory. She never spoke about the disappearance till the day she died, but whatever it was...

"It's about to happen," chorused Donna and Jenny. They looked at each other and laughed.

"Right here, right now," added the doctor, grinning at their antics.

The housekeeper was back, running along the path towards the gathering. "Professor! The library! Murder! Murder!"

They looked at each other and set off at a run.

"Did you know this was gonna happen dad?" Jenny panted as he tried to keep up while struggling in her kitten heels.

"Nope!" he said, popping the p as they burst into the library. He ran over and crouched down by the body of the old man, putting on his glasses.

"Oh my goodness!" exclaimed the butler.

Donna and Jenny knelt down beside him. He began to rattle off the details. "Bashed on the head. Blunt instrument. Watch broke as he fell, time of death was quarter past four." He leapt up and started to rummage through paper on the desk. Jenny handed a piece of lead piping to Donna.

"Bit of pipe. Call me Hercule Poirot, but I reckon that's blunt enough." She said as she took the pipe.

The doctor watched the reflection of Agatha Christie pluck something from the fire before continuing. "Nothing worth killing for in that lot, dry as dust."

"Hold on. The body in the library? I mean, professor Peach, in the library, with the lead piping?"

The other members of the house burst into the room.

"Let me see!" cried Lady Eddison

"Out of my way!" the colonel boomed.

"Gerald!" Lady Eddison cried out again.

"Saint's preserve us," whispered Golightly.

"Oh how awful..." gasped Miss Redmond.

"Someone should call the police," announced Agatha.

The Doctor began to flash the psychic paper at the occupants of the room "You don't have to, Cheif inspector Smith from Scotland Yard. Know as the Doctor. Miss Noble is the Plucky young girl who helps me out."

"I say!" said lady Eddison.

"Mrs Christie was right. Go into the sitting room. I will question each of you in turn. Jenny you stay too, if there's a killer on the loose I'm not letting you leave my sight," he instructed his expression grave.

"Come along, do as the doctor says. Leave the room undisturbed," Agatha said, herding the onlookers from the room.

Both Donna and Jenny turned on him.

"I'm not helpless! I can so handle myself without 'Being in you sight'!" Jenny huffed at him.

"Jenny you sound like me in a bad mood. We'll have this conversation later when you can be more reasonable and less stroppy," He scolded. "Excuse me if I don't want you dying in my arms again," he added in an angry whisper. She narrowed her eyes but could say nothing more because donna waded in.

"The plucky you girl who helps me out?"

"No police women in 1926," he explained from the floor as he investigated the scene.

"I'll pluck you in a minute!" she admonished. Jenny sniggered in the background, "why don't we phone the real police?" she continued.

"Well the last thing we want is pc plod sticking his nose in, especially, now I've found this," he scooped a sticky substance from the floor on the tip of a fountain pen and quickly jumped to his feet. "Morphic residue," he whispered. Jenny and Donna leaned in for a better look.

"Morphic? Doesn't sound very 1926," remarked Donna.

"It gets left behind when certain species genetically reencode," he explained distractedly as he held it up to the light and examined it, "get a look at this Jenny, no time to start learning like the present."

"The murderer's an alien?" interrupted Donna in a voice that seemed to say 'of course, silly me I'm travelling with you!'

"Which means one of that lot is an alien in human form," announced the Doctor in the faraway concentrating voice.

"Yeah but think about it, there's a murder, a mystery and Agatha Christie," said Donna.

"So?" the doctor asked, "happens to me all the time." He offered the residue to Donna to sniff. She pulled a face at the smell.

"No, but isn't that a bit weird? Agatha Christie didn't walk around surrounded by murders. Not really. I mean that's like meeting Charles dickens and he's surrounded by ghosts. At Christmas!" Donna exclaimed.

"Well..." the doctor said, his voice high.

"Did you actually do that?!"Jenny asked him with wonder. He gave he a big grin and a little shrug.

Donna gave a little choke of surprise, "But it's not like we could drive across country and find Enid Blyton having tea with Noddy. Could we? Noddy's not real. Is he? Tell me there's no Noddy.

The Doctor leaned in and touched her shoulder, "There's no Noddy," He told her definitely before running for the door. Jenny and Donna followed after him.

"Next thing you know, you'll be telling me it's like murder on the orient express, and they all did it!" Donna called after him.

"Murder on the orient express?" asked Agatha who was waiting outside the study.

"Oh, yeah. One of your best!" Donna complimented with a little nod.

"But not yet," said the Doctor quietly in a 'put your foot in it' tone of voice.

"Marvellous idea though," said Agatha thoughtfully.

"Yeah. Tell you what, copyright Donna Noble, okay?" Donna said with a cheeky little smile.

"Anyway!" the Doctor interrupted before things could get out of hand, "Agatha and I will question the suspects, Donna, you search the bedrooms. Look for clues," he turned to her and whispered as he reached into his jacket, "any more residue." He pulled a magnifying glass out and handed it to her. "You'll need this."

"Is that for real?" Donna asked him, her voice losing patience by the second.

"Go on. You're ever so plucky!" he said patronisingly.

Donna sighed, snatched it and began to tiredly climb the stairs in a long suffering manor. The Doctor turned his head to the flash of blond hair and glittery green dress that was disappearing round the corner. "Don't think I don't see you sneaking off Jenny, soldier reflexes or not those shoes are a dead giveaway. Busted!"

Jenny huffed and clip clipped back across the hall. She turned her sulky expression back to her Dad. "What am I supposed to do? You're finished torturing Donna, off to interrogate the house members and am I supposed to wait because you think I'm vulnerable?" The Doctor opened his mouth to speak. "Don't you dare say 'plucky'," she added angrily.

"Jenny, first rule, don't wander off. No one listens, but still... the point is, and don't take offence, but you're the new girl, you can explore when you know the ropes." He put his hand on her head affectionately. She sighed at his antics a stayed put. "Right then! Solving a murder mystery with Agatha Christie, brilliant!" he exclaimed enthusiastically.

"How like a man to have fun when there's disaster all around him," Agatha remarked coldly.

"Sorry, yeah," said the doctor in a lower pitched version of the 'put your foot in it' voice.

"I'll work with you gladly. But for the sake of justice. Not your own amusement."

"Yeah," said the Doctor again under his breath. He and jenny followed Agatha down the corridor. And jenny teasingly bumped her shoulder against his.

"I'm noticing that voice. You have a whole tone of voice for when you balls up? You must balls up a lot then," she laughed quietly.

"Yeah," the doctor nodded.

Jenny and Agatha say down in the red sitting room and the Doctor stood by the fireplace as the first suspect came in.

"Now then, reverend. Where were you at quarter past four?" he asked leaning his elbow on the mantelpiece.

"Let me think. Oh yes, I remember. I was unpacking in my room," he said thoughtfully.

"No alibi then," stated the Doctor.

"You were alone?" Agatha asked him.

"With the lord, one is never truly alone. Doctor?" the reverend said, gesturing towards the door.

The doctor waved him off and called in the next person. No alibi. The reverend was still a suspect. Roger sat down in the chair in front of the window.

"And where were you?" the Doctor asked him.

"Let me think... I was, um... Oh, yes, I was taking a constitutional, in the fields behind the house. Just taking a stroll, that's all.

"Alone?" the Doctor asked him.

"Oh yes, all alone. Totally alone! Absolutely alone. Completely, all of the time. I wandered lonely as the proverbial cloud; there was no-one else with me, not at all. Not ever!" he denied fervently. The doctor motioned for him to go. No alibi for the future lord either.

Miss Redmond took the suspect seat. "And where were you?" the Doctor inquired.

"At a quarter past four? Well, I went to the toilet when I arrived, and then um... Oh Yes I remember. I was preparing myself, positively buzzing with excitement about the party ... and the super fun of meeting Lady Eddy."

"We've only got your word for it," the doctor told her quietly. Another with no alibi.

"That's your problem, not mine," she said in a smug and forced polite voice. Jenny raised her eyebrows. No alibi could be very much her problem.

"And where were you, sir?" asked the Doctor after the colonel was wheeled in.

"Quarter past four? Dear me, let me think... Ah, yes, I remember. I was in my study, reading through some military memoirs. Fascinating stuff," the colonel said in a faraway voice. "Took me back to my days in the army. Started reminiscing... Mafeking, you know... Terrible war…" the colonel seemed to zone out. They waited for him to talk again but he had fallen into a dreamy silence.

"Colonel, snap out of it!" the Doctor interrupted him.

"I was in my study... " the colonel repeated, still slightly dazed.

"No no no. Right out of it!" said the Doctor.

The colonel gave himself a little shake, "oh, sorry. Got a bit carried away there."

The Doctor, Agatha and Jenny all looked at each other as the colonel was wheeled out of the room and Lady Edison was brought in.

"And where were you at a quarter past four, my lady?" he inquired politely.

"Now let me see... Yes, I remember. I was sitting in the Blue Room, taking my afternoon tea," she replied smoothly. "It's a ritual of mine, I needed to gather strength for the duty of hostess. I then proceeded to the lawn where I met you, Doctor. And I said, "And who exactly might you be and what are you doing here?" And you said, "I am the Doctor and this is Miss Donna Noble."

"Yes, yes, you can stop now. I was there for that bit," interrupted the Doctor.

"Of course," Lady Edison exclaimed. Suddenly she burped. "Excuse me," she said looking quietly mortified before she left the room.

The Doctor turned to Agatha, "what do you think then?"

"No alibis for any of them. The secret adversary remains hidden. We must look for a motive, use "the little grey cells"."

"Oh, yes, little grey cells, good old Poirot" he responded

"Do you know, I've been to Belgium, yeah. I remember... I was deep in the Ardennes, trying to find Charlemagne. He'd been kidnapped by an insane computer," he too seemed to be whisked into a dreamy state of remembrance.

"Doctor!" Agatha interrupted sharply.

"Sorry," he said, his focus back to the room.

"Charlemagne lived centuries ago!" she cried incredulously.

"I've got a very good memory," he muttered quietly and Jenny scoffed at his poor cover up.

"For such an experienced detective, you missed a big clue," Agatha said smugly.

"What, that bit of paper you nicked out the fire?" he returned.

"You were looking the other way," she spluttered.

"Yeah, but I saw you reflected in the glass of the bookcase," the doctor confessed with a grin.

"You crafty man," said the Doctor with a smile.

"Well you weren't that subtly really. I was looking right at you. You know Dad, people thinking I'm stupid, girly and vulnerable could be a good thing. There's a time and a place for everything, I think I've just found the time and place for being disregarded!" Jenny laughed.

The Doctor smiled, "Oh Jenny, you're definitely my daughter! Talking a mile a minute."

"Back to the case," Agatha interrupted impatiently, "This is all that was left." The doctor leaned over to have a look at the tiny fragment of paper.

"What's that first letter? N or M?" he asked Agatha.

"It's an M. The word is maiden."

"Maiden!" he Doctor shouted suddenly. "What does that mean?"

"We're still no further forward. Our nemesis remains at large. Unless Miss Noble's found something" sighed Agatha.

"But who do you _think_ it is," asked Jenny.

"My opinion with no additional evidence will only serve to bias my conclusion," Agatha stated.

"But murder is a people's crime! So we have to look at the people's reactions. Body language!" Jenny exclaimed. She looked between the two. Agatha had a patronising expression on her face. There was a beat of awkward silence.

"I think the colonel was lying, no one gets a dreamy expression on their face when contemplating war. Yet I don't think he was the killer," she continued.

"Oh really?" asked Agatha sceptically.

"No, I really don't, you don't feel dreamy when you've killed someone," she said looking Agatha in the eye. Agatha looked away uncomfortable, "Well unless you're a psychopath, and although a psychopath can be charming, they can't be bumbling, like he was earlier.

The Doctor nodded at her in approval at her assessment. "What about Miss Redmond then?" he asked, looking at her proudly, "what did you make of her?"

"A possibility. She was lying. The pauses were too well timed, it was an over practiced denial. She might not have killed someone, but I think she is no stranger to crime," Jenny explained. The Doctor pondered this. Agatha was looking at her in a speculatory fashion.

They heard a shrill scream.

"Donna!" the Doctor shouted, eyes wide.

They ran for the stairs. "Doctor!" they picked up the pace, hearing Donna call his name. "DOCTOR!" there was another shrill scream as they pounded along the corridor towards the door Donna had just slammed shut.

"It's a giant wasp!" gasped Donna.

"What d'you mean, a giant wasp?" the Doctors voice was fast and urgent as he held onto her.

"I mean, a wasp that's giant!" she replied in her 'it's self-explanatory dumbo' tone of voice.

"It's only a silly little insect," tutted Agatha in a frustrated tone.

"When I say giant, I don't mean big, I mean flippin' enormous! Look at its sting!" she shouted pointing at where a large stinger protruding through the wood of the door. They all looked down at it.

"Let me see," said the doctor pushing past them all and into the room but the wasp has disappeared. "It's gone. Buzzed off."

"But that's fascinating..." said Agatha bending to examine the stinger.

"Don't touch it! Don't touch it! Let me..." he instructed her, collecting some slime from the sting into a test tube. "Giant wasp... Well, tons of amorphous insectivorous lifeforms, but none in this galactic vector."

"I think I understood some of those words. Enough to know that you're completely potty," cried Agatha with incredulity.

"Lost its sting though, that makes it defenceless," Donna said to him.

"Thank goodness!" sighed Jenny with a shudder standing close to Donna for security.

"Oh, creature this size, got to be able to grow a new one," he muttered.

"Oh great," Jenny amended sarcastically, with another shudder. Donna put an arm around her.

"Can we return to sanity? There are no such things as giant wasps!" Agatha huffed in exaggeration.

"Exactly. So, question is, what's it doing here?"


	3. Chapter 3 The solving of two mysteries

Disclaimer: doctor who isn't mine. Probably should have said it earlier but I'm famous for being a bit slapdash.

"Exactly. So, question is, what's it doing here?" the doctor asked the room at large.

They left the room and began to walk downstairs, the doctor and Agatha ahead and Donna and Jenny arm in arm behind them. Donna decide to get revenge for the whole magnifying glass fiasco. "So do you know about boyfriends and stuff? Because that doesn't have anything to do with being a soldier. Would they program you with that?" she asked Jenny slyly.

"Vaguely," Jenny answered her thoughtfully, "continuation of species is important whether you are a soldier of not. I know that if you have sex, you can get pregnant. I also know how to use my, 'womanly wiles' as you put it, to my advantage in a hostile situation. I know if you kiss a prison guard, you can put your hands anywhere, including the keys to get you out. But other than the basics, not really."

"So you don't know about dating or contraception?" asked Donna.

"No… and what _is _contraception?"

"Oh, ask your Dad later. He knows everything, well he thinks he does…" Donna tailed off with a smug smirk. Donna one, Doctor about a thousand. Well it was a start, better than the Doctor a thousand and Donna nil, at any rate. Jenny continued to look puzzled.

Suddenly there was a scream followed by a sickening thud. They all ran outside and the Doctor and Agatha knelt down by the sprawled Miss Chandrakala.

"The poor… little… child…" she lay there dead, blood at the corner of her mouth, life gone from her eyes. Then came the buzzing from above them. They looked up to see the enormous wasp, hovering in the air above them.

"There!" exclaimed the doctor. At his shout the wasp flew away. "Come on!"

"Oooooh I like the running," enthused Jenny pulling her shoes off her feet and running to catch up.

"Hey, this makes a change, there's a monster, and we're chasing it" Donna panted.

"Can't be a monster, it's a trick, they do it with mirrors!" Agatha gasped. They ran up the last flight of stairs to suddenly be faced with the wasp. "By all that's holy!"

"Oh, but you are wonderful!" the Doctor gasped at the creature in awe. Suddenly it flew at them. "Now, just stop, stop there!" It wasn't stopping

"Oi, fly boy!" shouted Donna. She held up the magnifying glass, just as Jenny threw both her high heeled shoes, with precision, at the insects face. The insect flew away.

"Damn, I meant to knock it out!" sighed Jenny, "I'll aim for the wings next time, well I spose these shoes were good for something," she remarked, scooping them ups as the pelted after the wasp again.

"Don't let it get away! Quick! Before it reverts back to human form," cried the Doctor, they followed the buzzing down the stairs to be confronted with an empty corridor. "Where are you? Come on! There's nowhere to run. Show yourself!" he ordered. All the doors burst open, and every member of the house poked their head out of the door. "Oh, that's just cheating," he whined in exasperation.

"Quit whining, you're more of a child than Jenny!" scolded Donna.

"Right everyone in the drawing room downstairs," Agatha ordered gesturing with her arm, "five minutes." The four of them turned and headed back downstairs. They sat in the drawing room as the guests arrived.

"The house Keeper Miss Chandrakala has become the murderer's second victim," the Doctor announced gravely.

Lady Edison started to cry into a handkerchief. "My faithful companion, this is terrible!"

"Excuse me, my lady, but she was on her way to tell you something," Davenport interrupted.

"She never found me. She had an appointment with death instead," the Lady sniffled.

"She said "The poor little child". Does that mean anything to anyone?" the Doctor asked the room.

"No children in this house for years, highly unlikely there will be," the colonel said, looking at Roger and Davenport as he said this.

"Mrs Christie, you must have twigged something, you've written simply the best detective stories," Lady Edison deplored.

"Tell us, what would Poirot do?" the reverend asked her.

"Heavens sake! Cards on the table, woman, you should be helping us," the colonel boomed.

"But, I'm merely a writer," spluttered Agatha.

"But surely you can crack it, these events, they're exactly like one of your plots," cried Miss Redmond.

"That's what I've been saying! Agatha, that's gotta mean something," Donna stated. Jenny nodded encouragingly.

"But, what? I've no answers. None. I'm sorry, all of you, I'm truly sorry, but I've failed. If anyone can help us then it's the Doctor, not me." And with this Agatha got up and took off outside. Donna went after her. The doctor told the guests to go back to their rooms before speculation the reactions of the people with Jenny.

"D'you know what I think? Those books of yours, one day they could turn them into films, they could be talking pictures," Donna told Agatha.

"Talking pictures? Pictures that... talk? What do you mean?" Agatha asked incredulously.

"Oh, blimey, I've done it again."

"I appreciate you trying to be kind, but you're right, these murders are like my own creations. It's as though someone's mocking me, and I've had enough scorn for one lifetime," Agatha muttered.

"Yeah... Thing is, I had this bloke once, I was engaged, and I loved him, I really did. Turns out he was lying through his teeth. But d'you know what? I moved on. I was lucky, I found the Doctor, it's changed my life. There's always someone else," Donna confided.

"I see. Is my marriage the stuff of gossip now?" Agatha asked angrily,

"No! I just… sorry," Donna spluttered before apologising gently.

"No matter. The stories are true. I found my husband with another woman. A younger, prettier woman, isn't it always the way?" Agatha sighed despondently.

"Well, mine was with a giant spider, but, same difference," Donna shrugged.

"You and the Doctor talk such wonderful nonsense."

"Agatha, people love your books, they really do, they're gonna be reading them for years to come," Donna assured her.

"If only! Try as I might it's hardly great literature, now that's beyond me. I'm afraid my books will be forgotten, like ephemera," she sighed. Suddenly she spotted something and walked over to the flowerbed. "Hello, what's that? Those flowerbeds were perfectly neat earlier, now some of the stalks are bent over." She took a small box out of the flowerbed.

"There you go, who'd ever notice that? You're brilliant!" Donna praised. They began walking back to the house.

"I doubt that. Miss Smith seemed to get a better reading of the potential suspects than I did," she sighed again.

"Miss Smith? Who's… oh Jenny. Between you and me, I think Jenny is going to be a little bit of a child prodigy if you like, in a weird not really a child, half teenager, half baby sort of way…" Donna trailed off looking confused at her own statement. "I'm babbling like them!" she laughed. Agatha shook her head. Completely perplexed.

They entered the drawing room and Jenny and The Doctor looked up. They ordered drinks from the butler and explained to the Doctor where they had found the box.

The Doctor opened the box. It was full of strange tools. "Oh! Someone came here tooled up. The sort of stuff a thief would use."

"The Unicorn? He's here!" gasped Agatha.

"The Unicorn and the wasp..." the Doctor trailed off as the butler re-entered the room.

"Your drinks, ladies. Doctor."

"Very good, Greeves," he said as they took the drinks. The butler then left the room.

"How about the science stuff, what did you find?" Donna inquired.

The doctor pulled out the test tube in response. "Vespiform sting. Vespiforms have got hives in the Silfrax galaxy," he explained.

"Again, you talk like Edward Lear," Agatha huffed.

"But for some reason, this one's behaving like a character in one of your books, He said sipping his drink.

"Come on, Agatha, what would Miss Marple do? She'd have overheard something vital by now, because the murderer thinks she's just a harmless old lady," Donna inquired.

"Clever idea, it's a bit like what Jenny was talking about earlier. Miss Marple? Who writes those?"

"Um, copyright Donna Noble, add it to the list," Donna said cheekily.

"Donna..." the doctor said in a warning tone.

"Okay, we could split the copyright," she amended.

"No. Something's inhibiting my enzymes. ARGH! I've been poisoned!" He doubled over in agony clutching the arms of his chair with claw like fingers.

"Dad!" shrieked Jenny in a panic, clutching his arm.

"What do we do? What do we do?!" cried Donna crouching beside him, panic in her voice too.

Agatha smelled his drink. "Bitter almonds! It's cyanide! Sparkling cyanide!"

The Doctor suddenly took off out of the room, stumbling. The girls ran after him, down the hallway before bursting into the kitchen. The Doctor staggered to Davenport and grabbed him.

"Ginger beer!" he shouted at him fantically.

"I beg your pardon?" davenport asked in an offended tone.

"I need ginger beer!" He ran to the shelf himself sweeping off stuff while he searched for ginger beer.

"The gentleman's gone mad!" yelled Mrs Hart, the Doctor had found a bottle of ginger beer and drank out of it, then poured the rest on his head.

"I'm an expert in poisons, Doctor. There's no cure! It's fatal!" Agatha exclaimed. Jenny was crying silently as he panted and sweated. He spat out the rest of the drink.

"Not for me! I can stimulate the inhibited enzymes into reversal... Protein! I need protein!" He leant on the worktop, panting in agony, while Jenny, Donna and Agatha searched the kitchen supplies.

"Walnuts?" asked Donna.

"Brilliant!" She handed him a jar of walnuts and he gobbled them down. Mouth full, he gestured to Donna, shaking his hand up and down, miming the next ingredient he needed.

"I can't understand you! How many words?" Donna cried. He held up one finger. "One! One word!" He kept shaking his hand. "Shake, milk shake, milk? Milk? No, not milk? Hm, shake shake shake... Cocktail shaker! What do you want, a Harvey Wallbanger?" she asked frantically. He finally managed to swallow the walnuts.

"Harvey Wallbanger?!" he yelled in disbelief.

"Well, I don't know!" Donna defended herself.

"How is Harvey Wallbanger one word?!" he shouted.

"What do you need, Doctor?!" interrupted Agatha.

"Salt, I was miming salt! Salt! I need something salty!"

"What about this?" said Donna, showing him a brown bag.

"What is it?" he returned.

"Salt!"

"That's too salty!" he shouted.

"Oh, that's too salty!" huffed Donna sarcastically.

"Salami then?" asked Jenny, holding up a massive sausage.

"Not salty enough!"

"Fussy much space man!" yelled Donna.

Agatha handed him a jar. "What about this?!" He opened the jar and practically drank the contents.

"What's that?" asked Donna.

"Anchovies!" she said as the Doctor gestured again.

"What is it? What else? It's a song? Mammy? Um, I don't know, Camptown Races?" Donna shouted miming at him.

"Camptown Races?" the Doctor choked out.

"All right then, Towering Inferno!" Donna shouted sarcastically.

"It's a shock! Look! Shock! I need a shock!"

"Right then. Big shock, coming up!" Donna panted as she grabbed him. She dragged him into a snog, hanging off him, before letting go. He staggered backwards, before breathing out a cloud of silvery black smoke. They all stared at him in complete shock.

"Detox!" explained the Doctor wiping his mouth, "I must do that more often!" Donna gave him a nasty look.

"I mean, the, the detox," said the Doctor sheepishly.

"Doctor, you are impossible! Who are you?" cried Agatha.

Donna ignored her. "I hope you do mean _the detox _timeboy! That was the most disgusting, nutty, salty, fishy_, skinny _kiss," she looked him up and down at this last factor, "That I have ever had the misfortune to experience." With that she stalked from the room. Jenny just burst into tears and threw herself into his arms.

They were all sat down at the dinner Table. A storm was raging outside, thunder boomed and lightening split the sky.

"A terrible day for all of us. The Professor struck down, Miss Chandrakala taken cruelly from us… and yet we still take dinner," the Doctor remarked.

"We are British, Doctor. What else must we do?" said Lady Edison snootily.

"Then someone tried to poison me. Any one of you had the chance to put cyanide in my drink. But it rather gave me an idea."

"And what would that be?" inquired the reverend.

"Well … poison. Drink up!" The occupants of the room were now looking at him suspiciously. "I've laced the soup with pepper."

"Ah, I thought it was jolly spicy," bumbled the colonel, taking a sip from his spoon.

"But the active ingredient of pepper is piperine. Traditionally used as an insecticide." The occupants of the room all stared at each other, confused. "So, anyone got the shivers?" the Doctor asked them. There was another strike of lightning and the window was blown violently open, the candles blew out and the room went all dark.

"What the deuce is that!?" boomed the colonel, his distinctive voice audible over the cries of shock.

"Listen… listen, listen, listen!" instructed the Doctor.

Silence fell in the room. They all listened and heard a waspy buzz.

"No, it can't be..." whispered Lady Edison. Lightening flashed against the sky again.

"Show yourself, demon!" ordered Agatha. Everyone began to move in a panic.

"Nobody move! No, don't, stay where you are!" the Doctor shouted. Jenny pulled Donna behind her, her posture immediately defensive, soldier like. The Vespiform seemed to suddenly appear.

"Out, out, out, out!" The Doctor barked at them.

They spread out. The Doctor, pushed Agatha out of the door first, ending up in a small room together with Donna and Greeves.

"Not you, Agatha. You've got a long, long life to live yet. Donna! Where's Jenny?!"

"I don't know! She pushed me through the door. You came through and shut it!" she shouted.

There was a feminine cry of pain from inside the room. The Doctor's eyes widened. He snatched a sword from a wall decoration, before bursting back through the door.

Most people were still in the room, Robina seemingly paralysed in her chair with fear, gasping, the colonel had fallen out of his wheelchair. Lady Edison was still sitting at the head of the table, Davenport was sprawled on the ground, and the Reverend was standing out of the way to the side of the room. Jenny was cradling her bleeding arm to her body.

"My jewellery! The Firestone! It's gone! Stolen…" Lady Edison.

"Shush!" ordered the Doctor examining the wound on his daughters arm. "A knife wound, not deep. What happened?"

"Whoever it was nicked me as they ran past, I wasn't the target, but that means that…"

"Roger..." davenports voice was hushed with horror.

Roger was lying with his head in his bowl, the knife in his back. Robina screamed. Lady Eddison walked over to her son's body shaking her head in disbelief. She started to cry. "My son … my child!"

Agatha and Jenny were on the sofa, the Doctor kneeling by her feet bandaging up her arm gingerly. He tied up the end and placed a kiss on her hand as Donna re-entered the room.

"That poor footman. Roger's dead and he can't even mourn him. 1926, it's more like the dark ages," Dona huffed.

"Did you enquire after the necklace?" asked Agatha.

"Lady Edison bought it back from India. It's worth thousands."

"It can sting, it can fly. It could wipe us all out in seconds, why is it playing this game?" the Doctor pondered.

"Every murder is essentially the same. They are committed because somebody wants something," Agatha stated.

"What does a Vespiform want?" the Doctor wandered aloud.

"Doctor, stop it. The murderer is as human as you or I," sniffed Agatha.

"You're right!" said the doctor, hit by sudden realisation. He walked over and knelt next to Agatha. "Ah, I've been so caught up with giant wasps that I've forgotten. You're the expert!"

"I'm not, I've told you! I'm just a... purveyor of nonsense."

"No, no, no, no, no! Because plenty of people write detective stories, but yours are the best! And why? Why are you so good, Agatha Christie? Because you understand! You've lived… you've fought… you've had your heart broken. You know about people... their passions, their hope, and despair, and anger. All of those tiny, huge things, that can turn the most ordinary person into a killer. Just think, Agatha! If anyone can solve this... it's you!" Agatha looked at him disbelievingly. "Call everyone down! Not you Jenny, stay there."

Donna, Agatha and the doctor ran to gather the house occupants. As soon as everyone had gathered in the drawing room, the Doctor stood in front of the group. "I've called you here on this endless night, because we have a murderer in our midst. And when it comes to detection, there's none finer. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you … Agatha Christie!" The Doctor took a seat next to Jenny and Donna as Agatha took his spot.

"This is a crooked house. A house of secrets. To understand the solution, we must examine them all. Starting with you…" she paused, looking in the direction of Lady Edison, before turning to Robina. "...Miss Redmond."

"But I'm innocent, surely?" she replied smoothly.

"You've never met these people and these people have never met you. I think the real Robina Redmond never left London, you're impersonating her!" Agatha accused.

"How silly! What proof do you have?"

"You said you went to the toilet…"

"Oh, I know this. If she was really posh, she'd say 'loo'." Donna cried out in an 'I called it!' manor. Agatha reached down to the coffee table and lifted up the Unicorn's box.

"Earlier today, Miss Noble and I found this on the lawn. Right beneath your bathroom window. You must have heard that Miss Noble was searching the bedrooms, so you panicked. You ran upstairs and disposed of the evidence."

"I've never seen that thing before in my life." she denied.

"What's inside it?" said Lady Edison.

Agatha opened the box to reveal its contents to the room. "The tools of your trade, Miss Redmond. Or should I say…the Unicorn!" Everyone stared at Robina, in shock.

"You came to this house with one sole intention. To steal the Firestone!" Agatha stated.

Robina looked Agatha closely in the eye, before getting up from her seat. Her voice, her accent, her whole attitude changed. "Oh, alright then. It's a fair cop. Yes, I'm the bleedin' Unicorn. Ever so nice to meet you, I don't think. I took my chance in the dark and napped it. Go on then, you knobs. Arrest me, sling me in jail!" She pulled out the Firestone from inside her dress and tossed it to the Doctor.

"So, is she the murderer?" Donna asked, confused.

"Don't be so thick. I might be a thief, but I ain't no killer.2

"Quite. There are darker motives at work. And in examining this household, we come to you …" Agatha eyed Lady Edison again, but then turned away, "Colonel!"

"Damn it, woman! You with your perspicacity! You've rumbled me," he cursed standing up from his wheelchair.

"Hugh, you can walk! But why!?" cried Lady Edison.

"My darling, how else could I be certain of keeping you by my side?"

"I don't understand..." she whispered.

"You're still a beautiful woman, Clemency. Sooner or later some chap will turn your head. I couldn't bear that. Staying in the chair was the only way I could be certain of keeping you. Confound it, Mrs Christie, how did you discover the truth?"

"Um, actually I had no idea. I was just going to say you're completely innocent."

"Oh... ugh."

"Sorry!" she said apologetically.

"Well, well shall I sit down then?"

"Yeah, I think you better had," Agatha nodded.

He sat down and Lady Edison held his hand.

"So he's not the murderer?" asked donna popping a grape in her mouth.

"Indeed, not. To find the truth let's return to this." Agatha took the Firestone from the Doctor. "Far more than the Unicorn's object of desire. The Firestone has quite a history. Lady Edison."

"I've done nothing!" she said shocked.

"You brought it back from India, did you not? Before you met the Colonel. You came home with malaria, and confined yourself to this house for six month, in a room that has been kept locked ever since, which I rather think means..."

"Stop, please," sobbed the Lady.

"I'm so sorry. But you had fallen pregnant in India. Unmarried and ashamed, you hurried back to England with your confidante, a young maid later to become housekeeper Miss Chandrakala."

"Clemency, is this true?" whispered the colonel.

"My poor baby. I had to give him away. The shame of it."

"But you never said a word..."

"I had no choice. Imagine the scandal. The family name! I'm British, I carry on."

"And it was no ordinary pregnancy," the doctor said standing up again.

"How can you know that?" gasped Lady eddison.

"'Scuse me Agatha, this is my territory. But when you heard that buzzing sound in the dining room, you said "It can't be." Why did you say that?"

"You'd never believe it," she whispered.

"The Doctor has opened my mind to believe many things," stated Agatha.

"It was forty years ago, in the heat of Delhi, late one night. I was alone. And that's when I saw it, a dazzling light in the sky. The next day, he came to the house. Christopher, the most handsome man I'd ever seen. Our love blazed like a wildfire. I held nothing back. And in return ... he showed me the incredible truth about himself. He'd made himself human, to learn about us. This was his true shape." She let out a sigh. "I loved him so much, it didn't matter. But he was stolen from me. 1885, the year of the great monsoon. The river Jumna rose up and broke its banks. He was taken at the flood. But Christopher left me a parting gift, a jewel like no other. I wore it always, part of me never forgot. I kept it close. Always."

"Just like a man, flashes his family jewels, and you end up with a bun in the oven!" huffed Robina.

"A "poor little child". Forty years ago, Miss Chandrakala took that newborn babe to an orphanage. But Professor Peach worked it out. He found the birth certificate." Said Agatha standing, the doctor sat down.

"Oh, that's maiden! Maiden name!" yelled donna scoffing another grape as if it was a cinema.

"Precisely," said Agatha.

"So, she killed him?" Donna put bluntly.

"I did not!" the Lady rebuffed.

"Miss Chandrakala feared that the Professor had unearthed your secret. She was coming to warn you."

"So, she killed her?" Donna guessed again. Jenny laughed at her.

"I did not!"

"Lady Edison," she paused, " is innocent. Because at this point... Doctor!" The Doctor rose from his seat and took Agatha's place.

"Thank you. At this point, when we consider the lies and the secrets, and the key to these events, then we have to consider... it was you, Donna Noble!" he pointed.

"What!? Who did I kill?"

"No, but you said it, all along. The vital clue. This whole thing is being acted out like a murder mystery. Which means ... it was you, Agatha Christie!"

"I beg your pardon, sir!"

"So, she killed them?" accused Donna eating mere grapes. Jenny laughed harder this time.

"No! But she wrote! She wrote those brilliant, clever books. And who's her greatest admirer? The moving finger points at you...Lady Edison!"

"Don't! Leave me alone!"

"So, she did kill them?" asked Donna again.

"No! But just think, last Thursday night, what were you doing?"

"I was… I was in the library. I was reading my favourite Agatha Christie thinking about her plots, and how clever she must be. How is that relevant?" she demanded.

"Just think. What else happened on Thursday night?" The Doctor looked at Reverend Golightly who stared back, seemingly confused.

"I'm sorry?"

"You said on the lawn, this afternoon. Last Thursday night, those boys broke into your church."

"That's correct," the reverend verified. "They did. I discovered the two of them. Thieves in the night, I was most perturbed." He paused. "But, I apprehended them."

"Really? A man of God against two strong lads? A man in his forties? Or, should I say... forty years old, exactly?" the Doctor said suggestively.

"Oh my god!" cried Lady Edison.

"Lady Edison, your child, how old would he be now?"

"Forty, he's forty!"

"Your child has come home."

"This is poppycock!" the reverend negated.

"Oh? You said you were taught by the Christian Fathers. Meaning, you were raised in an orphanage."

"My son... can it be?" whispered Lady Edison.

"You found those thieves, Reverend, and you got angry! A proper, deep anger, for the first time in your life, and it broke the genetic lock! You've changed! You realized your inheritance! After all these years, you knew who you were," the doctor announced before snatching the firestone off of Agatha. "Oh, and then it all kicks off, cos this isn't just jewel. It's a Vespiform telepathic recorder! It's part of you, your brain, your very essence. When you activated, so did the Firestone. It beamed your full identity directly into your mind. And, at the same time (flashback of Lady Eddison reading 'The murder of Roger Ackroyd' in the library) it absorbed the works of Agatha Christie, directly from Lady Eddison. It all became part of you. Mechanics of those novels formed a template in your brain. You've killed, in this pattern, because that's what you think the world is. Turns out, we are in the middle of a murder mystery. One of yours, Dame Agatha!"

"Dame?" she asked shocked.

"Oh, sorry, not yet."

"There's the 'ballsed it up' voice again!" laughed Jenny.

"So he killed them? Yes? Definitely?" Donna asked tiredly, as if she had done all the investigating.

"Yes," concluded the doctor.

"Well ...this has certainly been a most entertaining evening," said the reverend evasively. Everyone stared at him. "Really, you can't believe any of this surely, Lady Edizzzz..."

"Lady who?" the doctor asked in a mocking tone.

"Lady Edizzzzzon..." the revernd struggled.

"Little bit of buzzing there, Vicar?"

"Don't make me angry!" he threatened. He rose from his seat and stood up in front of the group.

"Why? What happens then?" the Doctor interrogated.

"Damn it! You humanzzzz! Worshipping your tribal sky godzzz! I am so much more! That night, the universe exploded in my mind! I wanted to take what wazzz mine. And you, Agatha Christie, with your railway station bookstall romancezzzzz… What'zzzzz to stop me killing you?"

"Oh, my dear god," Lady Edison cried reaching out towards him. "My child!"

In a cloud of purple light the reverend transformed into the Vespiform. "What'zzzz to stop me killing you all?" He flew at them.

"Forgive me!" she cried moving forward.

"No, no, Clemency, come back! Keep away, keep away my darling!" The colonel pulled her away from the Vespiform. They backed into a corner with Greeves and Robina.

Agatha held up the firestone. "No! No more murder! If my imagination made you kill, then my imagination will find a way to stop you, foul creature!" She ran out, the Doctor, Jenny, Donna and the Vespiform following her.

"Wait! Now it's chasing us!" panted Donna.

"I'm not liking the running so much now," Jenny groaned clutching her arm and grimacing as they ran.

The trhee of them burst out of the manor and shut the door behind them. Agatha drove up in one of the vintage cars and beeped a horns at them. The Vespiform broke through the door.

"Over here! Come and get me, Reverend!" she called.

"Agatha, what are you doing?" the Doctor shouted.

"If I started this Doctor, then I must stop it!"

She drove away. The Doctor, Jenny and Donna ran towards the other car. The Vespiform hesitated for a second, then flew off after Agatha.

"Come on!" the Doctor yelled.

"It's all my fault, it's all my fault, it's all my fault!" cried Agatha as the creature followed.

"The Doctor and Donna followed her with the other car.

"You said this is the night Agatha Christie loses her memory," Donna reminded him.

"Time is in flux, Donna! For all we know, this is the night Agatha Christie loses her life and history gets changed."

"But where's she going?" asked Jenny.

"The lake! She's heading for the lake. What's she doing?" he exclaimed as it suddenly dawned on him.

The cars stoped at the Silent Pool lake. Agatha got out and held up the Firestone, now engulfed in purple glow.

"Here I am! The honey in the trap. Come to me, Vespiform..."

"She's controlling it!" shouted Donna.

"Its mind is based on her thought processes. They're linked!"

"Quite so, Doctor! If I die, then this creature might die with me."

The Doctor stepped in front of Agatha and faced the Vespiform."Don't hurt her! You're not meant to be like this. You've got the wrong template in your mind."

"It's not listening," warned Donna. She snatched the Firestone off Agatha and threw it into the lake, the Vespiform chased after it, drowning in a purple glow. The four of them look down at the lake in sorrow.

"How d'you kill a wasp? Drown it. Just like his father," said Donna sadly.

"Donna, that thing couldn't help itself," the Doctor accused, yet his voice held understanding.

"Neither could I!" Donna defended herself.

"And with the wrong template he was damaged. He'd never be right, just dangerous. It's sad, but right," said Jenny softly.

"Death comes as the end... and justice is served," Agatha added.

"Murder at the Vicar's rage. Needs a bit of work." Said the Doctor.

"Just one mystery left, Doctor. Who exactly are you?" Agatha turned on him. The Doctor took a deep breath to answer, but Agatha suddenly collapsed, yelling in pain.

"Oh, it's the Firestone! It's part of the Vespiform's mind. It's dying and it's connected to Agatha!" A purple glow engulfed Agatha, but then it stopped and she rested silently with her eyes shut.

"He let her go. Right at the end, the Vespiform chose to save someone's life," the Doctor remarked with wonder.

"Is she alright, though?" Donna asked with concern

"Oh, of course! The amnesia! Wiped her mind of everything that happened. The wasp, the murders…"

"And us! She'll forget about us" said Donna disappointedly.

"Yeah, but we've solved another riddle. The mystery of Agatha Christie. And tomorrow morning, her car gets found by the side of the lake. A few days later, she turns up in hotel at Harrogate, with no idea of what just happened." The Doctor paused. "We leave the car here and take her to the hotel." He hoisted Agatha into his arms and they got into the car they had driven in. Back to the TARDIS.


	4. Chapter 4 Jenny gets the talk

Disclaimer: I don't own doctor who, despite owning a cardboard cut-out of David Tennant. Very sad I know. Sometimes I scare myself because I forget I have it and then I'm like AAAAAAARRRGGGGHHH! A person in my room!

Agatha had an expression of confusion on her face as she looked back at the Doctor and the girls,

"No-one'll ever know," he told them softly.

...then she slowly walked into the hotel.

"Lady Edison, the Colonel, and all the staff … what about them?" Donna asked.

"Shameful story. They'd never talk of it. Too British. While the Unicorn does a bunk, back to London town. She could never even say she was there."

"That's so stupid!" exclaimed Jenny,

"That's so British," the Doctor said as if that was the explaination.

"Oi spaceman! And what happens to Agatha?

"Oh, great life! Met another man, married again. Saw the world. Wrote and wrote and wrote."

"She never thought her books were any good, though. And she must have spent all those years wondering."

They walked into the TARDIS, the Doctor put his coat on one of the treelike hatstands inside. "Thing is, I don't think she ever quite forgot. Great mind like that, some of the details kept bleeding through. All the stuff her imagination could use. Like, Miss Marple!"

"I should have made her sign a contract," sighed Donna.

"She got the idea from me!" laughed jenny shoving Donna. "She said so herself, you just gave her the name!"

"Yeah but I called it! That means –"

"And, where is it, where is it, hold on…" the doctor said cutting off their bickering. He lifted up a piece of the TARDIS floor and pulled out a chest. "Here we go. C..." He began to rummage. "That is, C for Cybermen," he threw aside a cyberman chest plate, "C for Carrionites," he discarded the Carrionite globe too, then did the same with the head of a stone statue, before pulling out a book. "Christie, Agatha!" He shows it to them. 'Death in the Clouds', with a giant wasp on the cover. "Look at that."

"She did remember!" said Donna. Jenny smiled leaning in and putting her head on her dad's shoulder.

"Somewhere in the back of her mind, it all lingered. And that's not all. Look at the copyright page," he told them handing the book to Donna. She examined the copyright page.

"Facsimile edition, published in the year… five billion?!" Donna's voice shot up in surprise at the end.

"People never stop reading them. She is the bestselling novelist, of all time," the Doctor assured her.

"But she never knew," Donna sighed.

"Well, no one knows how they're going to be remembered. All we can do is hope for the best. Maybe that's what kept her writing. Same thing keeps me travelling. Onwards?" he asked with a grin.

"Onwards!" agreed Donna and Jenny. They watched the TARDIS console happily as the engines started to work. The Doctor piloted the ship into the void.

"Let's get you healed up properly Jenny, if we hurry to the med bay we can reduce the scar time," the Doctor told her. The girls followed him to the med bay. He put her arm into the chamber of a machine that started to seal the angry red flesh together, leaving behind a sore looking pink line.

"Should fade with time, I'd say a month, depending on how much you sleep," he reassured her.

"So far I've been shot and stabbed! Not going too great health and safety wise," Jenny joked back.

"You've had a bum deal to be fair," Donna laughed. "It's not normally this dangerous."

"You're okay though? _Okay _okay, I mean. Well…" He scratched the back of his head looking insecure. "You still want to come with me?" he winced as if waiting to be rejected.

"Oh! I want to stay! Of course I want to stay, I want to see new places and do more running, and what were you saying about teaching me to be a proper time lord?"

The Doctor seemed to bounce back to his usual self, the babbling and bravado returning with gusto. "Well, there's the laws of time, history, maths and _physics! _And no daughter of mine is going to be unable to pilot the TARDIS for long. Regeneration! Don't know how I'm going to teach you that but I can try. Oooooh and telepathy, you'll probably be able to push and receive communication to and from my psyche, and communicate with the TARDIS!" He now had a huge grin on his face.

"I'd like that," she said quietly. The doctor put his hand on her cheek and stroked back and forth with his thumb. They heard a choking noise and looked up.

"Donna are you crying?" the Doctor asked her in awe.

"No," she spluttered indignantly. Watching the doctor look whole again had definitely _not_ brought tears to her eyes. The Doctor just shook his head and opened his arms. Donna went for the hug.

"Awww family time," laughed Jenny, "while we're all here, let's do backstory!" The Doctor suddenly looked wary, something that was not missed by either of the girls. Jenny chose a safe topic. "Well how did you two meet?"

The evening was spent laughing and watching the Doctor and Donna bicker over the finer points of their adventure with the Empress of the Racnoss. Jenny leaning on her father's shoulder until she had fallen asleep. He picked her up and carried her through the TARDIS, Donna opening the doors for him. He laid her down on her bed before tucking her under the covers.

"I'm a terrible Father Donna."

"Where did that come from space man?" Donna was shocked at his sudden outburst.

"Shot and stabbed, what next? Drowning? Am I going to find her in a river? At the bottom of a cliff? Hanging from a tree? I haven't protected her from anything!"

Donna put her hand on his shoulder. "If I catch you thinking like that again Spaceman, you're gonna get one hell of a slap!" she whisper-shouted at him. He looked shocked. "Was today fatal? No. did you fix it? Yes. Was last time fatal? Yes. Did you fix it? Yes you still bloody well. Fixed. It. Anyway!" she poked him in the chest with each of the last few words. "Stop wallowing in self-pity. I prefer your ego." She stalked out of the room.

The Doctor stood there looking stunned. Donna poked her head back around the door, "and coming from me that bloody means something. You pompous prat." The Doctor smiled at her. She grinned back. Donna was good for him, he felt loads better. Not able to face sleep he went down to the console room to tinker for a bit. His dark mood buried under a sudden rush of affection for Donna.

He looked up to see a pair of little fluffy-socked feet in the gap between the floor and the bottom of the console he was under.

"Hey Jenny, up already?"

"I can't sleep anymore. I'm not tired. Are you busy?" she asked with a little 'just woken up' yawn. He climbed out to talk to her.

"No. I'm just 'pratting about' as Donna would put it. What do you want to talk about?" he sat on the jump seat and she sat next to him and snuggled into his side.

"Well I'm worried," she confided softly. He looked down at her concerned eyes. "I'm not normal. I don't know normal stuff. I won't fit in. I was talking to Donna and I don't even know about dating!" The Doctor inclined his head. Maybe that bit wasn't such a bad thing. "I mean, what even is contraception?" The Doctor choked on the breath he was currently inhaling.

"What! Why are you asking that?"

"Donna said it. It sounded like a big scary important word, so I was wondering what it meant."

"It is big and scary and you should avoid it. No! Don't avoid it… I mean, don't avoid _it_, just the topic. Unless by _it_ you mean –" His face was red. "You know what, the best form of contraception is abstinence, so just do _that_!" There, that sounded better. "Why are you asking me? I thought you were having this conversation with Donna."

"She reckoned I should ask you, because you 'think you know everything'," she explained. The Doctor's eyes narrowed. Well played Noble, well played. "And what is abstinence? Isn't that not doing something?" she added, disrupting his thoughts.

"Yup abstinence is not doing… _it_."

"And '_it'_, is contraception?"

"No _it _is… you know what, ask Donna. She knows more about this girly stuff than me. And she'll get a kick out of me saying I don't know something." He got up mumbling something about breakfast, and stalked off to find Donna.

He banged on her door until she appeared. She was wearing a fuzzy dressing gown and a scowl. "What?" she asked through a yawn.

"It appears you have had a _chat_ with Jenny." He stated, his voice controlled. Donna perked up considerably at this.

"Well you know I have had many _chats _with Jenny. You will have to be specific. I'm rather _plucky_ you see and it might take me a while to get over that _pluckiness_ and get what you mean," she informed him with a smug smile.

"Oh I'm sure you remembered a certain _talk_ you two may have started having," he emphasised.

Donna dropped all pretence and with a gleeful, somewhat scary giggle said, "So what did she ask you then?"

"Contraception," he bit out. Donna started to piss herself laughing. "Glad you find it funny!"

"Oooooh I do! And you can't leave her in the dark! You've got to tell her the rest or she could start making her own assumptions," she sniggered.

"Oh no no no Noble. You start _the talk_, you can finish it. Anyway the talk for the daughter is the mum's job."

"Well the way you explained progenation, makes _you_ her mum, and dad. She should call you Dummy. Or Maddy. Or Dumdy!" Donna sniggered.

"Oh no _Auntie _Donna. This one is on you."

Donna sighed and went to get dressed before following him down to the kitchen where Jenny was making pancakes from a cookbook. "Jenny, I think it's only fair that I tell you what is going on." The Doctor crossed his arms and Looked at her approvingly. "Your Dad is too much of a chicken-shit to give you the talk, so he's asked me to do it." Jenny looked up, confused.

"I am _not _ a –"

"Do you want me to do it or not?" She raised her eyebrows warningly. The doctor fell silent. "You know about sex but you probably don't have the accumulative knowledge that years of innuendos and dirty jokes give you."

"Oh! By _it_ you meant sex! Why didn't you just say sex?" Jenny asked. Donna muttered something that sounded suspiciously like chicken-shit again. The doctor's frown deepened into what looked like an angry pouty face. Donna motioned for Jenny to flip the pancake which was beginning to burn, before continuing.

"Yeah and contraception just makes sex safe. Simple. And we'll cross the details bridge when we come to it. Don't want to put myself off my breakfast!" she grinned. The Doctor mouthed 'thank you' before sitting down and spreading half a jar of marmalade on a pancake.

Sorry it's short. Please review and give me some feedback on Jenny! x


	5. Chapter 5 Honest and open

Doctor who isn't mine. Thank you reviewers!

**This is the font for Galifreyan**

_**This is the font for telepathic communications**_

_**This is the font for the TARDIS communications.**_

"Where do you want to go? The Doctor asked the girls.

"Anywhere and everywhere!" Jenny answered with a big grin. The Doctor returned her grin.

"Or anywhen," he added. "Okay then. How about northern Lastroras, back before the tourists arrive, safe, and breath-taking." Jenny nodded her affirmative. "Allons y! Hold that down for me! And get ready to turn that when I say." He then danced around to the other side of the console, and began to pump vigorously while punching down several buttons and examining the scanner. The TARDIS began to make her magical wheezy roar.

Jenny felt the energy. What she envisioned as a warm greeny-gold light, seemed to almost caress her mind. The push of a sentient being against her consciousness. She couldn't decipher the words in the song, but she could hear the melody. She closed her eyes focusing on the push.

_**Child… Child of my thief**_

She gasped stepping away from the console and placing her hands at her temples. The feeling was overwhelming, like the universe was pulsing through her head, the words echoing and echoing, bouncing off every synapse.

"Jenny?" Donna's voice was concerned. The Doctor looked up jerkily form the screen of the scanner.

"She talks! She knows me. She was in my head! Why does she call you a thief?"

"She calls me _her _thief," he corrected brightly, "because I stole her. Or saved her as I like to think. She was in a junk yard, waiting to be cannibalised for parts to make new TARDIS's. That's why her flight patterns are a bit erratic. The navigation system is shot. Oh and Donna, Jenny agrees with me, will you believe me now when I tell you she's a she?"

"It's just so much. It's all …" Jenny trailed off unable to explain it. The doctor came up and stroked her hair. "She was singing," she added.

"You'll get used to it," he reassured her bracingly, giving her shoulder a squeeze, before spinning back round the console to land them. There was a thump and the central pillar was still.

"I'm going out first!" Yelled Donna elbows out as they all charged for the door. They all burst awkwardly out of the one open side and Donna hit the ground with a curse as the other two landed on top of her. "That had better be your skinny, little elbow, spaceman!"

"Trust me Donna, with you, it will always be just my elbow," he panted as he tried to shuffle out from under Jenny. They rolled over to stare up at a lilac sky, a hot orange sun burning overhead.

"Oooooh this is nice! I can work on my Tan! Do I have time to change?"

"Donna you're ginger! It's a lost cause, and if you burn I will have the pleasure of telling you I told you so," the Doctor teased. Donna gave and almighty scowl and stormed back inside the TARDIS.

"Stop bullying her," Jenny tutted at him. "She's right you're a massive child."

"I'm a massive child?! She's –"

"Yes! You are. Now what are we going to do here on Lastroras then?"

"We are currently in northern Lastroras, a planet in the Complan delta, along with Raxicoricofallapatorius and its twin planet Clom. This is one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the delta, until the tourists came and mucked it up. Then it just became the most tourist popular, coastal scum dump in the delta. We're here about ten years before it became commercialised. Once they stick a golf course in a place you know it's too busy. However at this time they don't have any little shops. I like a little shop."

"Why do you like little shops's?" Jenny asked him in a puzzled voice. He didn't seem like the shopping type.

"Just so people can, you know, shop… anyway do you like beaches?"

"Never been to one, what are they like?"

"There's a beach?!" Donna was standing in the doorway arms crossed sunglasses on top of her head. "Why didn't you tell me that before I went to get changed? I can't wear these shoes on a beach!"

"Getting changed were you Donna? I thought you went off for a sulk." He flashed her a smug grin before striding past her. Jenny followed Donna up to the wardrobe. They settled on beach dresses, flip flops, wide rimmed floppy sunhats and giant sunglasses.

"Auntie Donna? You know you're pissed off with my dad… well" Jenny tailed off, "is the thing about this mysterious girlfriend a little bit less his secret to tell now?" Donna thought about this.

"It still isn't my secret," Donna said wincing, as if loyalty when she was pissed off caused her pain.

"Will you tell me the not so secrety bits?"

"Ok so she's blonde, young, I'm pretty sure he was in love with her, in fact I know, cause I caught him stroking her purple shirt when he though I wasn't there," Donna listed gleefully. "But he lost her. I don't know how, but now he's really lonely. Oh and just a tip for you, the Doctor is always okay, even when he isn't. So when he say's 'I'm always okay', prepare to call bullshit," she added in a darker tone.

Jenny let all this sink in as they walked back downstairs. She didn't picture her dad as the type to have a girlfriend, and even less likely to confess if he did. Well that fitted with the hiding the shirt and not admitting he loved her. Stroking a shirt? What was that about? Sounded like she was going to have to ask Donna for another so called _talk._

The Doctor was waiting for them just outside the doors, he turned to see two brightly coloured, massive eyed people flip flopping down the stairs. Well at least Donna had another girl to look stupid with. And at least there we no locals for them to scare.

He offered them each and arm, like he had in 1926, and they mooched off down the hill. The sun was scorching hot and there were little heat hazes hovering above the ground.

"This is more like it! Proper summer! But purple," remarked Donna slapping the Doctor on the back approvingly.

"Oh Donna Donna Donna! You haven't seen the best bit yet," he babbled excitedly. They crested the hill and were hit by an extremely bright shine. They all put their sunglasses on and took in the scene. The sand was purple and glimmering in the sunlight. Purple glittering cliffs spanned into the distance curving round and framing a giant lagoon. The bright sun shone on the undulating surface, turning it a rippley copper orange. "The famous Berumas salt lake of north Lastroras. Framed by cliffs of amethyst. Well it's not famous now but –"

"EEEEEEEEEE!" Donna and Jenny ran past him, kicking off their flip flops and stomping their way through the purple sand. Before throwing down their towels lying down, arms spread, and covering their faces with their hats. They both lay still and nothing could be heard but the gentle lapping of the waves of the lake and the girls contented sighing.

The doctor stood there with his mouth still hanging open. Blink and you would have missed it. He rolled his eyes. And kept walking, pulling out his sonic screwdriver and scanning. "No obvious life forms, oxygen levels high enough …" he began to babble on keeping a running commentary of the information being fed back to him.

"Oi space man, don't you ever take a holiday from being a nerd, or is it compulsory? And stop bleeping!" Donna scolded. Jenny laughed at the pair of them. They were right. Never. Not ever. They'd kill each other.

"Donna my 'bleeping' and 'nerding' could be keeping us alive! Do you want to be eaten? Do you want to suffocate? Do you want radiation poisoning? Do you –"

"Is he usually this preachy?" Jenny asked Donna in a happy sunshine voice.

"No. It's cause he's a Dad now. He feels the need to act like an old fart."

"I don't like either of you! This was a mistake, two women in my ear, and don't get me started on the TARDIS. You're all ganging up on me!" he pouted at them.

"Oh sit down you!" Donna grabbed his ankle and yanked. He hit the floor and the air left his lungs with an 'oof' sound. "This is nice," she grinned.

"Yup. Nice," winced the Doctor wheezing slightly.

"Tell me a story about time lords, anything. I wanna know where I come from," Jenny demanded suddenly.

"Time lords come from Gallifrey, they only become time lords if they successfully pass through the academy system. Otherwise they are the children of Gallifrey. There are three forms of Gallifreyan. Old Gallifreyan, Formal Gallifreyan and High Gallifreyan. Gallifreyan in one of the most complex and hard to learn languages in the universe. But one of the most beautiful, both in written and spoken form." The doctor let out a contented sigh, reminiscing.

"Teach it to me?"

The Doctor scoffed. "I mean it Jenny. Hardest to learn in the universe. It's tonal. Highly complex, yet minuscule, tonal differences that change the meaning of what you said completely. There are thirty old Gallifreyan tenses, forty seven old Gallifreyan tenses and fifty six tenses in high Gallifreyan. Even _I _have trouble remembering how to speak high Gallifreyan."

"Well teach me old Gallifreyan then. Are the three even the same language?" Jenny asked.

"Yes, each is a base for the next, having a layer of finer more complicated detail, more tones and tenses, laid on the top."

"Bummer, I thought six tenses was bad when I did German in school! When Jenny got shot, was the singing Gallifreyan?" Donna rolled over as she said this.

"I spose it is like singing. I'm surprised Donna. That was very observant."

Donna glowed at the praise, and stretched like a cat. "Any way, how can there be so many tenses?"

"Well take this for instance. This is the present-past. This is our present yet it is our past because the TARDIS is set to the Gallifreyan time and it is before how old I am now had I not time travelled and kept a straight timeline. As a race of time traveling people, we often needed to be specific, as time travellers sometimes meet in the wrong order."

"How long does a time lord live?" Jenny inquired tentatively.

"Depends how careful he is. And how kind the high council are." He scratched his chin. If a time lord avoids harm and death, they can live for several millennia. If they die, they regenerate. The record for a longest kept incarnation was eight hundred and eleven years. A time lord can regenerate 12 times in a cycle. If they are favoured or needed by the high council, they can be gifted a new cycle. Now there's no high council, if I use up my cycle, I stay dead. Mind you if there were still a high council I would still stay dead, because we never exactly saw eye to eye. This is regeneration number ten I can regenerate twice more." He stared moodily up at the sky. The Doctor never stopping, never slowing down. This felt an awful lot like slowing down to him.

"What about children? What were they like?" Jenny was staring up at him, leaning on her elbows with her chin in her hands, swinging her legs. "Did I have siblings?" Donna had rolled over and was watching his face.

"They were smart, yet some were smarter than others. Parents put forward their children to become time lords. Eight years old. You took the aptitude test, and if you were deemed adequate, you were brought before the great untempered schism and underwent initiation. Time and space explodes into being in your mind, and it hurts. You can see all the way to the void. The timelines begin to write themselves in your head, all the possibilities, all the outcomes ever changing, depending on the slightest of decisions to make them reality of impossibility. I had children. Four of them. Costella, Trito, Miranda and Vega. You are the split of Costella. She looked like my first incarnation. So do you," he rubbed his eyes. "She was named after my mother."

Jenny reached over and took his hand. Donna took his other one. He seemed to relax at the support he was given. He made a sand angel and stood up carefully, so as not to ruin it. He shook the sand off his body, as if he was trying to shake the enormity of how much he had opened up to them, from his psyche. "You know this salt lake has similar qualities to the Dead Sea. Fancy a dip Donna?" The redhead sat up and eyed the fiery looking waves. Maybe her tan was a lost cause…

Sorry there was a gap! School happened and I've been busy dying of depression. Next chapter will be completed by Saturday though.

Please review and give me feedback!


	6. Chapter 6 The firebreathing dragon

Doctor who isn't mine

Three salty, sticky, purple sand encrusted people, crested the hill, roaring with laughter. The sound of dripping flip flops and squelching converse crunching on the grit, joined the laughter.

"I can't believe you pulled him in!" squealed Jenny.

"I can't believe he swam with his shoes on! Do you ever take those clothes off?"

"Why would I when I look this good?" he asked rhetorically. He struck an Adonis pose and a cascade of salty water poured out of his bigger on the inside pockets. Donna fell against Jenny clutching her ribs. Jenny staggered to hold her up, whilst giggling hysterically. The doctor snorted and started to moonwalk backwards.

"You think you have all the moves, don't you space man?!"

"What do you mean _think_? I _know _I have all the moves. I learned them from Michael himself, I'm bad I'm –"BASH "– Ow!" he staggered rubbing the back of his head where he had hit it on the corner of the TARDIS. "Ahhh, Oooooh, ow, ow, ow, ouch!"

"Stop it, stop it! I'm going wet myself," howled Jenny.

"I didn't do it intentionally! I'm going to have a lump!" they heard a wheezing noise and looked up to see Donna doubled over, finger pointed, gasping desperately as tears streamed from her eyes. The doctor just tutted sarcastically at her, before putting his key in the lock and disappearing inside so she could get over her hysterics.

He pulled the important items out of his pockets and put them on the console to dry off. He felt the psychic paper heat up in his hand. A message!

The library

Come as soon as you can x

The library? _The _library? Next stop the library, after he got himself a shower first, he walked upstairs to his favourite bathroom. He could hear the girls careening around downstairs. He wasn't an old fart was he? Old yes, but an old fart?... he'd have to think about that one.

Once the girls made their way into their showers there was no noise except for the hum of the TARDIS and the sound of running water.

The doctor had just stepped out of the shower, wrapping one towel round his waist and one round his shoulders and then in the distance – "ARRRRGGGGGGHHHH!" Sounded like Donna had sun burned, he thought to himself with a wry smile.

The girls joined him in the console room half an hour later as he was setting the coordinates for their destination. "Told you so!" he chirped at Donna cheerfully, poking a patch of her red skin. She hissed and turned on him. Uh oh. Donna was really something when she was angry.

"When someone is in a considerable amount of pain," she breathed, nostrils flaring, "the last thing they want is some smug Martian git being a smugger!" she then slapped him upside the back of his bruised head.

"Oi, you –"

"You deserved it," Jenny jumped in, refereeing before things got nasty, "acting like a complete juvenile! Take it down an octave, and quit pouting you big baby."

"You just got parented by your own daughter. Feel the shame, time toddler!" Donna sniggered thumping him on the back and flattening his quiff.

"Truce Donna, before my self-esteem dies completely."

"I keep you humble. You should be grateful."

"No you don't! You inflate your own ego with the air from mine! You're an air sucking, fire breathing dragon!

"Didn't you say we were going somewhere Dad?"

"Oh yeah, Allons y!" he yanked down the lever and held down several more with his foot. Jenny huffed, shoved his foot and held down the appropriate buttons rather than all the buttons in the vicinity. The quaking lessened and they landed, with less of a breath stealing bone jarring thump.

Jenny skipped for the doors. The doctor looked on proudly. Ten out of ten for initiative. She had obviously been watching the _best_ at work.

They found themselves in a room walled with book shelves, with a large round desk in the middle. A library reception.

"Books! People never really stop loving books," said the doctor shrugging on his coat. "51st century. By now you've got holovids, direct to brain downloads, fiction mist, but you need the smell. The smell of books, Donna. Deep breath. Slow down Jen, wait up for the 'old fart'."

They crossed the room and went through a door. They walked down the staircase and got to see the view of the surface: a futuristic city all filled with books.

"The Library. So big it doesn't need a name. Just a great big "the.""

"It's like a city," remarked Donna

"It's a world. Literally a world. The whole core of the planet is the index computer, biggest hard drive ever. And up here, every book ever written. Whole continents of Jeffrey Archer, Bridget Jones, Monty Python's Big Red Book. Brand new editions, specially printed. We're near the equator, so..." he licked his finger then lifted it up to feel the wind, "this must be Biographies! I love biographies.

"Yeah, very you. Always a death at the end," Donna snorted. Jenny was over by the wall running her finger along the spines of the hardbound books.

"You need a good death. Without death, there'd only be comedies. Dying gives us size," he said. Donna picked up a book but the Doctor snatched it off her. "Oi! Spoilers!"

"What?"

"These books are from your future. You don't wanna read ahead, spoil all the surprises. Like peeking at the end."

"Who's Giaccomo Casanova?" Jenny wondered aloud, holding one of the biographies. The Doctor snatched that of her with much more vigour.

"Isn't travelling with you one big spoiler?" she asked him as if he was stupid.

"I try to keep you away from major plot developments. Which, to be honest, I seem to be very bad at, cos you know what? This is the biggest library in the universe. So where is everyone? It's silent." He looked thoughtful and went over to an information terminal and started to fiddle on it with the sonic.

"The Library?" Donna emphasised.

"The planet. The whole planet," the Doctor clarified.

"Maybe it's a Sunday," suggested Donna.

"No, I never land on Sundays. Sundays are boring."

"I was born, created slash progenated on a Sunday!" huffed Jenny.

"Well I'll admit it wansn't boring, but look how that turned out!"

"Well... Maybe everyone's really, really quiet," interrupted Donna.

"Yeah, maybe. But they'd still show up on the system."

"Doctor, why are we here? Really, why?"

"Oh, you know, just passing," he said casually, trying to appear nonchalant.

"No, seriously. It was all, "Let's hit the beach," then suddenly we're in a library. Why?" Donna insisted.

"Now, that's interesting," he declared trying to change the topic.

"What?"

"Scanning for life forms. If I do a scan looking for your basic humanoids - you know, your book readers, few limbs and a face –" He paused as the examined a screen that reads "filtered humanoid life form scan: 3 "- apart from us, I get nothing. Zippo, nada, see? Nobody home. But if I widen the parameters to any kind of life..."He pushed some keys, numbers ran on the screen until they stop to reveal, 'Error: 1; life form number capped at maximum record'.

"Thirteen figures!" Jenny squeaked in disbelief.

"A million million. Gives up after that. A million million." He rubbed his chin, brainy specs perched on his nose.

"But there's nothing here. There's no-one," Donna stated, puzzled.

"And not a sound. A million million life forms and silence in the Library."

"But there's no-one here. There's just books. I mean, it's not the books, is it? I mean, it can't be the books, can it? I mean, books can't be alive?" They all looked at each other then cautiously reached out towards a book. Just before they could touch it they heard a voice that made them jump.

"Welcome!"

"That came from in there," Donna gasped.

"Yeah!" the Doctor agreed breathlessly, he'd had to restart his hearts back there.

They headed back to the reception. They could see a Node there - it looked like a modern statue with a living face mounted into its head.

"I am Courtesy Node 710/aqua. Please enjoy the Library and respect the personal access codes of all your fellow readers regardless of species or hygiene taboo."

"That face, it looks real," said Donna.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," the Doctor reassured her.

"But a statue with a real face, though! It's a hologram or something, isn't it?"

"No, but really, it's... fine," he reassured her again.

"Additional. There follows a brief message from the head librarian for your urgent attention. It has been edited for tone and content by Felman Lux Automated Decency Filter. Message follows. "Run. For God's sake, run. No way is safe. The Library has sealed itself, we can't... Oh, they're here. Arg. Slarg. Snick." Message ends. Please switch off your mobile comm units for the comfort of other readers."

"So that's why we're here... Any other messages, same date stamp?"

"One additional message. This message carries a Felman Lux coherency warning of 5, 0, 11..."

"Yeah, yeah, fine, fine, fine, just play it," the Doctor rushed

"Message follows. "Count the shadows. For God's sake, remember... if you want to live, count the shadows." Message ends."

"Girls..."

"Yeah?" they answered.

"Stay out of the shadows."

"Why, what's in the shadows?" Donna asked looking worried. They went through another door and arrived to an aisle between bookshelves, several floors high, reaching as far as we can see. "So ... We weren't just in the neighbourhood."

"Yeah, I kind of, sort of lied a bit. I got a message on the psychic paper." He showed it to them. "What do you think - cry for help?"

"Cry for help with a kiss?" Donna mocked scornfully.

"Oh, we've all done that," he returned playfully.

"Who's it from?" Jenny asked.

"No idea," he replied.

"So why did we come here, why did you..."

"Donna!" The lights on the far end of the corridor went out and the darkness seemed to move towards them.

"What's happening?" she cried.

"Run!" he shouted grabbing Jenny's hand.

They ran until they reached a door. The Doctor tried to open it but failed. "Come on!"

"What, is it locked?" Donna panted frantically.

"Jammed! The woods warped!

"Sonic it, use the thingy!

"I can't, it's wood!"

"What, it doesn't do wood?!"Donna huffed at him.

"Hang on, hang on, if I can vibrate the molecules, fry the bindings, I can shatterline the interface..."

"Oh shut up –" Jenny started.

"And get out of the way!" Donna finished. They both landed kicks to the warped doors, the doors flew back and the three of them burst into the room, shut the door and used a book to bolt it.

"Oh! Hello! Sorry to burst on you like this. OK if we stop here for a bit?" The doctor asked the seemingly empty room. A wooden sphere fell to the ground.

"What is it?" Donna asked.

"Security camera. Switched itself off," the doctor explained. He picked it up and started to examine it, the Doctor soniced the security camera.

"Nice door skills, girls."

"Soldier," Jenny said simply.

"Yeah, well, you know, boyfriends... sometimes you need the element of surprise. What was that, what was after us? I mean, did we just run away from a power cut?" Donna inquired.

"Possibly."

"Are we safe here?" Donna was looking concerned.

"Course we're safe. There's a little shop… Gotcha!" He managed to wrestle the security camera's lens opens.

Words appeared on the display screen of the camera. 'No, stop it, no, no!'

"Ooh, I'm sorry. I really am, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." The Doctor put down the sphere. "It's alive."

"You said it was a security camera," said Donna, confused.

"It is. It's an alive one."

"It would be," snorted Jenny.

'The Library is breached. Others are coming.' Again, words were appearing on the display screen.

"Others? What does it mean, "others"?" asked Donna looking Doctor is just as puzzled as he.

"Ask the nodey aqua slash thingy!" suggested Jenny.

Donna turn to a Node in the room. This one has a different face. "Excuse me, what does it mean, "others"?"

"That's barely more than a speak your weight machine, it can't help you," the Doctor told her.

"So why's it got a face?"

"This flesh aspect was donated by Mark Chambers on the occasion of his death."

"It's a real face?!" gasped Donna

"It has been actualised individually for you from the many facial aspects saved to our extensive flesh banks. Please enjoy."

"It chose me a dead face it thought I'd like? That statue's got xxx face on it..." Donna ranted, absolutely shocked.

"It's the 51st century, that's... basically like donating a park bench."

"They carve it off a head and stick it on a statue!" Jenny stated in revulsion.

"It's donating a face!" In horror, Donna backed away from the Node.

"No, wait, no!" The Doctor grabbed Donna at the waist to stop her entering into a dark shadow behind her. She slapped off his hands.

"Oi! Hands!" she scolded.

"The shadow, look," he instructed them.

"What about it?" sniffed Donna.

"Count the shadows."

"One. There, I counted it, one shadow," she answered uncertainly.

"Yeah... But what's casting it?" They looked around but couldn't see anything that could cast it. "Oh! I'm thick! Look at me, I'm old and thick! Head's too full of stuff, I need a bigger head!" he babbled clutching his hair. They looked towards a corridor – it was very dark and the only lamp was blinking.

"Power must be going," observed Donna.

"This place runs on fission cells. They'll outburn the sun."

"Then why's it dark?"

"Dad, the shadows gone," Jenny told him, holding his arm nervously. They looked at the floor, it was a shadow free zone.

"It's not dark… We need to get back to the TARDIS," He began to look for another door.

"Why?" asked Jenny. She stepped closer to him. Donna too stepped closer at the sound of the fear in his voice.

"Because that shadow hasn't gone. It's moved," he explained.

The Node burst into speech. "Reminder: the Library has been breached, others are coming. Reminder: the Library has been breached, others are coming. Reminder: the Library has been breached..."

A door is burst open and several people in spacesuits entered the room. Their leader walked straight over to the three of them. She turned on a light inside her helmet to reveal a female face, and she smiled at them. "I see the Doctor, Jenny and Donna… But where is my sweetie?"

…..

So basically I love river song, but I love the doctor rose couple more, so I'm changing the details, but she still has to be there or they would end up dead.

Please review! I'm being very good with my updates.


	7. Chapter 7 True colours

"I see Donna and Jenny and the Doctor, but where is my sweetie?"

"Get out," the Doctor replied.

"Doctor," Donna chastised him.

"All of you. Turn around, get back in your rocket and fly away. Tell your grandchildren you came to the library and lived. They won't believe you," he instructed them adamantly.

"Pop your helmets, everyone. We've got breathers," the woman said airily.

"How do you know they're not androids?" a suited up, dark skinned woman asked her.

"Because I've dated androids. They're rubbish," the wild haired woman told her cheekily.

2Who is this? You said we were the only expedition. I paid for exclusives," sniffed a snottly looking man, accusingly.

"I lied, I'm always lying. Bound to be others," She replied in the same cheeky tone.

"Miss Evangelista, I want to see the contracts," he sniffed again, pointing at a pretty woman.

"You came through the north door, yeah? How was that, much damage?" the woman asked the Doctor.

"Please, just leave. I'm asking you seriously and properly, just leave. Hang on. Did you say expedition?" the Doctor said inquisitively.

"My expedition. I funded it," the snotty man laid claim.

"Oh, you're not, are you? Tell me you're not archaeologists," the Doctor groaned.

"Got a problem with archaeologists?" The cheeky woman asked, hands on hips.

"What's wrong with them?" Jenny asked him.

"I'm a time traveller. I point and laugh at archaeologists," he declared.

"Ah. Professor River Song, archaeologist," she held out her hand, emphasising the last word.

"River Song, lovely name. As you're leaving, and you're leaving now, you need to set up a quarantine beacon. Code wall the planet, the whole planet. Nobody comes here, not ever again. Not one living thing, not here, not ever. Stop right there. What's your name?" he began to babble.

"Anita," the dark skinned woman answered.

"Anita, stay out of the shadows. Not a foot, not a finger in the shadows till you're safely back in your ship. Goes for all of you. Stay in the light. Find a nice, bright spot and just stand. If you understand me, look very, very scared. No, bit more scared than that. Okay, do for now. You. Who are you?"

"Er, Dave," another man answered.

"Okay, Dave."

"Oh, well, Other Dave, because that's Proper Dave the pilot, he was the first Dave, so when we…" other Dave continued.

"Other Dave, the way you came, does it look the same as before?" the Doctor interrupted.

"Yeah. Oh, it's a bit darker."

"How much darker?" the Doctor inquired.

"Oh, like I could see where we came through just like a moment ago. I can't now."

"Seal up this door. We'll find another way out," The doctor ordered.

"We're not looking for a way out. Miss Evangelista?" called the snotty man.

"I'm Mister Lux's personal everything. You need to sign these contracts agreeing that your individual experience inside the library are the intellectual property of the Felman Lux Corporation," the pretty woman handed them some papers.

"Right, give it here," the doctor said.

"Yeah, lovely. Thanks," Donna added taking hers.

"Cheers," smirked Jenny. They all tore up the contracts simultaneously.

"My family built this library. I have rights," blustered snotty Mr Lux.

"You have a mouth that won't stop. You think there's danger here?" River turned to the Doctor.

"Something came to this library and killed everything in it. Killed a whole world. Danger? Could be," he replied sarcastically.

"That was a hundred years ago. The Library's been silent for a hundred years. Whatever came here's long dead," she declared confidently.

"Bet your life?" he challenged.

"Always," she countered.

"What are you doing?" Mr Lux asked other Dave.

"He said seal the door."

"Torch." The doctor held his hand out for one.

"You're taking orders from him?" scoffed Mr Lux.

"Spooky, isn't it?" the Doctor grinned. Then the Doctor took Lux's torch and shone it into the far recesses of the round room. "Almost every species in the universe has an irrational fear of the dark. But they're wrong, because it's not irrational. It's Vashta Nerada."

"What's Vashta Nerada?" Donna asked him.

"It's what's in the dark. It's what's always in the dark. Lights! That's what we need, lights. You got lights?"

"What for?" River asked him.

"Form a circle. Safe area. Big as you can, lights pointing out."

"Oi. Do as he says," ordered River.

"You're not listening to this man?" asked Lux incredulously.

"Apparently I am. Anita, unpack the lights. Other Dave, make sure the door's secure, then help Anita. Mister Lux, put your helmet back on, block the visor. Proper Dave, find an active terminal. I want you to access the library database. See what you can find about what happened here a hundred years ago. Hottie senior, you're with me. Step into my office.

"Professor Song, why am I the only one wearing my helmet?" asked Lux.

"I don't fancy you."

The Doctor went over to Dave at the terminal. Lux took off his helmet. "Probably I can help you."

"Hottie senior. With me, I said."

"Oh, I'm hottie senior?"

"Yes! Ooo, that came out a bit quick," said Donna disgustedly.

"Hottie?"

"Meh," replied Donna.

"Hottie senior, warm old fart. Same thing, shrugged Jenny thumping him on his bruised head.

"Don't let your shadows cross. Seriously, don't even let them touch. Any of them could be infected," he repeated.

"How can a shadow be infected?" asked other Dave.

"Excuse me, can I help?" asked Miss Evangelista.

"No, we're fine," replied Anita.

"I could just you know, hold things."

"No, really, we're okay."

"Couldn't she help?" asked Donna.

"Trust me. I just spent four days on a ship with that woman. She's er…"

"Couldn't tell the difference between the escape pod and the bathroom. We had to go back for her. Twice," Anita finished for him.

River took a battered book from her backpack. Its cover was blue with eight squares. "Thanks."

"For what?" the doctor answered confusedly.

"For coming when I called."

"Oh, that was you?"

"Well I didn't expect it to be just you. Where is my sweetie?"

"_Who _is your sweetie?"

"Rules are rules, if you don't know I can't tell you. You're doing a very good job, acting like you don't know me. I'm assuming there's a reason."

"A fairly good one, actually," said the Doctor.

"Okay, shall we do diaries, then? Where are we this time? Er, going by your face, I'd say it's early days for you, yeah? So, er, crash of the Byzantium. Have we done that yet? Obviously ringing no bells. Right. Picnic at Asgard. Have we all met up at Asgard yet?" River asked. The just stared at her. "Obviously not. Blimey, very early days, then. Whoo! Life with time travellers - never knew it could be such hard work." She examined the Doctor's face carefully, "and look at you! You're looking young."

"I'm really not, you know."

"No, but you are. Your eyes. You're younger than I've ever seen you."

"You've seen me before, then?" he asked confusedly.

"Doctor... you can't be telling me you know who I am?" she replied with another question, equally confused.

"Who are you?" he fired back. Their banter was interrupted by a noise, a kind of alarm but rather strange.

"Sorry, that was me. Trying to get through into the security protocols, I seem to have set something off. What is that? Is that an alarm?" said other Dave.

"Doctor? Doctor, that sounds like..." Donna interrupted.

"It is. It's a phone!" he cried.

"I'm trying to call up the data core, but it's not responding. Just that noise," other Dave added.

"But it's a phone!" Donna said incredulously.

"Like in the TARDIS?" Jenny questioned.

"Let me try something," the Doctor said, pondering.

The screen showed the symbol they had seen on the security camera, with 'ACCESS DENIED' written over it.

"OK, doesn't like that, let's try something else," the Doctor muttered.

"OK, here it comes," the Doctor said, his voice slightly distorted. "Hello?" A girl's face appeared on the monitor.

"Hello. Are you in my television?" she inquired calmly.

"Well, no, I'm, I'm... sort of in space. I, I was trying to call up the data core of a triple-grid security processor."

"Would you like to speak to my dad?"

"Dad or your mum, that'd be lovely," he replied.

"I know you! You were in my library," she suddenly realised.

"YOUR library?" He asked her, confused.

"The Library's never been on the television before. What have you done?"

"Ah, I... I just rerouted the interface..." before he could finish, the connection broke and the little girl disappeared.

"What happened? Who was that?" River demanded to know. The access denied signal appeared again. The Doctor pushed some keys but couldn't get through, so he ran across the room to the other terminal by River Song's workplace.

"I need another terminal. Keep working on those lights, we need those lights!" The Doctor ordered them, urgency apparent in his voice.

"You heard him, people, let there be light," Ordered River song. While she was busy the Doctor reached for the TARDIS-shaped Diary River had left on the table, but suddenly she swooped in and took it off from him. "Sorry. You're not allowed to see inside the book, it's against the rules."

"What rules?" he huffed incredulously.

She smiled at him in a superior manner. "Your rules, hottie senior."

The doctor looked at her, perplexed. All of a sudden dozens of books flew of the shelves. "What's that? I didn't do that, did you do that?"

"Not me," replied the space suit man.

The Doctor turned back to the terminal. The screen displayed again the 'ACCESS DENIED' sign, not with 'CAL' on the top. "What's CAL?"

When the books finally stop flying off, Donna and Jenny walked over to Miss Evangelista who seemed really stressed by everything happening around her. "You all right?" Donna asked her gently.

"What's that? What's happening?" Evangelista cried.

"I don't know," Mr Lux told them

"Oh, thanks for...you know... offering to help with the lights," said Donna trying to calm her.

"Could keep us alive," Jenny said earnestly. Donna gave her a 'you're not helping' kind of look.

"They don't want me. They think I'm stupid cos I'm pretty."

"Course they don't, nobody thinks that," Donna reassured her.

"No, they're right though. I'm a moron, me. My dad said I have the IQ of plankton. And I was pleased," she said dejectedly.

"See, that's funny," Donna laughed.

"No, no I really was pleased. Is that funny?" The woman asked, confused at this.

"No, no," Donna corrected herself. Jenny bit her lip. Books started to fly off the shelves again.

"What's causing that? Is it the little girl?" asked River.

"But who is the little girl? What's she got to do with this place?" the Doctor said frustrated. How does the data core work? What's the principle? What's CAL?"

"Ask Mr Lux," retorted River.

"CAL, what is it?" the Doctor asked again.

"Sorry. You didn't sign your Personal Experience contracts."

"Mr Lux, right now, you're in more danger than you've ever been in your whole life. And you're protecting a patent?"

"I'm protecting my family's pride," Lux sniffed Back.

"Well, funny thing, Mr Lux, I don't want to see everyone in this room dead because some idiot thinks his pride is more important," the Doctor replied angrily.

"Then why don't you sign his contract?" River paused, hands on hips before adding with a grin, "I didn't either. I'm getting worse than you lot, family values and all that."

"Okay, okay, okay. Let's start at the beginning. What happened here? On the actual day, a hundred years ago, what physically happened?" the Doctor changed tack, having no luck with Mr Lux.

A panel of the library wall slid open, unseen by anyone but Jenny and Miss Evangelista.

"There was a message from the library. Just one. "The lights are going out". Then the computer sealed the planet, and there was nothing for a hundred years," River answered.

"It's taken three generations of my family just to decode the seals and get back in," put in Mr Lux.

"Um...excuse me..." interrupted Miss Evangelista quietly.

"Not just now," Mr Lux hushed her.

"There was one other thing in the last message..." River added.

"That's confidential," sniffed Mr Lux.

"I trust this man. With my life, he's in my top five list of trustworthy people."

"You've only just met him!"

"No, he's only just met me."

"Erm. This might be important actually..." interrupted Miss Evangelista again.

"In a moment!" said Mr Lux harshly.

"Stay there a mo, I'll sort this out," Jenny smiled at her. "Dad!"

"This is a data extract that came with the message." River showed him the message on a PDA.

"Looking at this Jenny. 4022 saved. No survivors."

"4022, that's the exact number of people who were in the Library when the planet was sealed," River answered.

"But how can 4022 people have been saved if there were no survivors?" asked Donna.

"That's what we're here to find out," smiled River.

"And so far, what we haven't found, are any bodies," added Mr Lux.

"Look Dad, I wouldn't have interrupted you if I didn't think it was really important… Dad? Dad! We found –" Jenny was interrupted by a scream. Her eyes went wide. They all ran after the sound, through the dark passageway and into a large reading room. There was a skeleton in a ragged space suit, sitting in the chair in the centre.

"Everybody, careful. Stay in the light," instructed the Doctor urgently.

"You keep saying that. I don't see the point!" scoffed proper Dave.

"Who screamed?" the Doctor asked the group.

"Miss Evangelista," proper Dave asnswered.

"Where is she?" he asked the group again.

"Miss Evangelista, please state your current..." River tapered off into her communication device. They all looked shocked to hear River's voice echoing from the direction of the skeleton. Please state your current..." she stops, then whispered the last word, terrified by the realisation "...position." She pulled out a piece of the spacesuit's collar from behind the skeleton's back. The green light of the communication device was still on. "It's her. It's Miss Evangelista."

"We heard her scream a few seconds ago. What could do that to a person in a few seconds?" Anita asked.

"It took a lot less than a few seconds," The Doctor answered in a grim voice.

"What did?" Anita pushed.

Jenny was standing there, eyes and moth wide in horror. No one noticed her.

"Hello?" Miss Evangelista's voice came from the green piece of collar.

"Um, I'm sorry everyone, um, this isn't going to be pleasant. She's ghosting," River explained solemly.

"She's what?" said Donna.

"Hello, excuse me? I - I'm sorry, hello? Excuse me?"

"That's... That's her, that's Miss Evangelista!" gasped Donna.

"I don't want to sound horrible, but couldn't we just... you know?" asked other Dave awkwardly.

"This is her last moment... no, we can't. A little respect, thank you," scolded River.

"Sorry, where am I? Excuse me?"

"But that's Miss Evangelista," Donna repeated.

"It's a Data Ghost, she'll be gone in a moment." She paused and them spoke into the communication device. "Miss Evangelista, you're fine, just relax. We'll be with you presently."

"What's a Data Ghost?"

"There's a neural relay in the communicator, lets you send thought mails. That's it there, those green lights. Sometimes it can hold an impression of a living consciousness for a short time after death. Like an after image," The Doctor explained.

"My grandfather lasted a day. Kept talking about his shoelaces," Anita remarked.

"She's in there!" protested Donna.

"I can't see, I can't... Where am I?"

"She's just brain waves now. The pattern won't hold for long," announced proper Dave.

"She's conscious! She's thinking…" Donna continued.

"I can't see, I can't... I don't know what I'm thinking."

"She's a footprint on the beach. And the tide's coming in," The Doctor said sadly.

"Where's that woman? The nice woman... is she there?"

"What woman?" asked Mr Lux.

"She means... I think, she means me." Donna told them.

"Is she there? The nice woman?"

"Yeah, she's here, hang on." River told the communicator. "Go ahead Donna. She can hear you."

"Hello? Are you there?"

Donna shook her head in horror. "Help her," the Doctor whispered to her.

"She's dead," protested Donna.

"Yeah. Help her."

"Hello? Is that the nice woman?"

"Yeah. Hello. Yeah, I'm I'm... I'm here. You OK?" Donna asked shakily.

"What I said before, about being stupid. Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh."

"Course I won't. Course I won't tell them," Donna reassured her.

"Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh..."

"I won't tell them. I said I won't," Donna repeated.

"Where's the clever girl? Clever girl. Clever girl." Everyone looked around the room. The seemed to notice Jenny at last.

"She must mean you Jen," The Doctor pushed her forward. The lights of the neural relay were starting to blink.

"Thank you for listening, you listened to me. Listened. Listened. Thank you for listening. Thank you for listening. Thank you for listening. Thank you for listening. "

"She's looping now. The pattern's degrading," River told them.

"I should have waited. I should have waited. I should have. I Should. I... I... I... Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream." She kept repeating those final words.

"Does anybody mind if I..?" She stepped up to the skeleton and turned off the relay device.

"That was... that was horrible. That was the most horrible thing I've ever seen, gasped Donna on the edge of tears. The Doctor puts his hand on her shoulder.

Jenny let out a giant sob. Before her whole body was suddenly overtaken with tiny, violent, silent sobs which shook her skinny frame. She looked like a vulnerable little girl. She wrapper her arms around her heaving chest and Dug he nails into her upper arms. "I told her to wait," she gasped out.

"Oh Jenny." The doctor tried to pull her into a hug.

"Don't touch me!" she shrieked at them like a mad thing. She shoved him and he staggered backwards looking stunned. "This is you're f-f-f-fault! All o-of you! None of y-y-you listened to h-her! She e-e-even told you it w-was impor-portant," she choked out. "Both of u-us interrupted you


	8. Chapter 8 Cornered

The Doctor was staring at his weeping daughter in Horror. What made it worse was that she was absolutely right. The crew were all looking ashamed.

"Whatever did this to her, whatever killed her... I'd like a word with that," River broke the silence.

"I'll introduce you," The Doctor told her. He needed to keep moving. He couldn't stop he couldn't slow down. He rushed back to the round room, where they came from, the others following him. "I'm going to need a packed lunch."

"Hang on," River halted him. She and the Doctor crouched down to her bag. Searching for the food, she first pulled out the TARDIS-shaped book.

"What's in that book?" he asked.

"Spoilers," River grinned a subdued grin.

"Who are you?"

"Professor River Song, University of..."

"To me. Who are you to me?" He pushed.

"Again... spoilers." She stood up and handed a lunch box to him. "Chicken, and a bit of salad. Knock yourself out."

After a long look at her, he stood up.

"Right, you lot. Let's all meet the Vashta Nerada!"

The Doctor crouched down on the floor, examining shadows around the room with the sonic.

"Are you alright Jen?" River asked stroking some hair back off Jenny's face. Jenny was just sitting there. Arms hugging her knees to her chest. An empty expression her face.

"Bit familiar of you isn't it," stated Donna coldly.

"Proper Dave, could you move over a bit?" instructed the Doctor.

"Why?"

"Over there by the water cooler. Thanks." Proper Dave walked over to the rest of the group.

"You know her, do you?"

"Oh Donna! I know all of you, and the rest of the clan. We go way back, but I'm sure now from the responses that we do not go this far back."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You lot haven't met me yet. I sent my sweetie, a message but it went wrong, it arrived too early. These are the days when the Doctor still had the psychic paper. You all look at me, You all look right through me and it shouldn't kill me, but it does.

"What are you talking about? Are you just talking rubbish? Do you know us or don't you?"

"Donna! Quiet, I'm working," the Doctor shouted over.

"Sorry!"

"Donna. You're Donna. Loyal Donna Noble. Brilliant Donna Noble," River assured her.

"You can't know me then," Donna told her decisively. "I'm Donna Noble Nothing."

River shook her head. "Where is all that Donna Noble fight? The woman who calls the oncoming storm, the patriarch of the TARDIS, 'space man', 'time boy' and 'Martian boy'?"

"So you do know me then? Where am I like in the future that you think I am wonderful?"

"Confident in yourself!"

"OK! We've got a live one! That's not darkness down those tunnels, this is not a shadow. It's a swarm. A man-eating swarm," Shouted the Doctor. He threw a chicken leg from the lunch box into the shadows. But by the time it reached the ground, there was only the bone left of it. "The piranhas of the air, the Vashta Nerada. Literally "the shadows that melt the flesh". Most planets have them, but usually in small clusters. I've never seen an infestation on this scale, or this aggressive."

"What d'you mean, most planets? Not Earth?" Scoffed Donna.

"Mmmm, Earth, and a billion other worlds. Where there's meat, there's Vashta Nerada. You can see them sometimes, if you look. The dust in sunbeams."

"If they were on Earth, we'd know," said Donna adamantly.

"Nah, normally they live on road kill. But sometimes people go missing. Not everyone comes back out of the dark," he said darkly.

"Every shadow?" River asked him.

"No. But any shadow."

"So what do we do?"

"Daleks - aim for the eyestalk. Sontarans - back of the neck. Vashta Nerada... Run! Just run."

"Run? Run where?" said River.

"This is an index point. There must be an exit teleport somewhere," the Doctor deduced.

"Don't look at me, I haven't memorised the schematics!" whined Mr Lux.

"Doctor, the little shop! They always make you go through the little shop on the way out so they can sell you stuff," shouted Donna.

"You're right! Brilliant! That's why I like the little shop!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"I thought it was so 'people could, you know, shop'," Jenny said coldly, moving so she could stay close to Donna. The Doctor felt his hearts breaking.

"OK, let's move it!" yelled proper Dave. He began heading towards the shop.

"Actually, Proper Dave, could you stay where you are for a moment?"

"Why?" he asked.

"I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. But you've got two shadows," the Doctor said in a forced calm voice. Everybody looked at Proper Dave's shadows in horror.

"It's how they hunt, they latch on to a food source and keep it fresh."

"What do I do?" said Dave.

"You stay absolutely still. Like there's a wasp in the room, like there's a million wasps."

"We're not leaving you, Dave," River told him confidently.

"Course we're not leaving. Where's your helmet? Don't point, just tell me," the doctor said in a repressing the panic tone of voice.

"On the floor, by my bag." Anita went to fetch the helmet.

"Don't cross his shadow!" He took the helmet from Anita. "Thanks. Now, the rest of you, helmets back on and sealed up. We'll need everything we've got." He put proper Dave's helmet back on.

"But, Doctor, we haven't got any helmets," protested Donna.

"Yeah, but we're safe anyway," he assured her overconfidently.

"How are we safe?" Donna asked accusingly.

"We're not, that was a clever lie to shut you up."

"He seems to like shutting people up," muttered Jenny to Donna.

The Doctor winced. "Professor, anything I can do with the suit?"

"What good are the damn suits? Miss Evanglista was wearing her suit, there was nothing left," snorted Mr Lux.

"We can increase the mesh-density, dial it up 400%. Make it a tougher meal," River declared.

"OK." He soniced Proper Dave's suit. "800%! Pass it on." He showd the sonic screwdriver to River but she lifted up a similar one.

"Gotcha!"

"What's that?" He demanded.

"It's a screwdriver."

"It's sonic!"

"Yeah, I know. Snap!" She went around sealing everyone's suits with her sonic.

The Doctor watched her with suspicion, then he grabbed Donna's hand. "With me, come on!" Donna grabbed Jenny's hand and they ran into the shop.

"What are we doing, we're shopping? Is it a good time to shop?" Donna asked him breathlessly.

"No talking, just moving! Try it! Right, stand there in the middle. It's a teleport. Stand in the middle. Can't send the others, TARDIS won't recognise them."

"What are you doing?" Donna asked him incredulously.

"You two don't have any suits, you're not safe!"

"Dad…"

"You don't have a suit, so you're in just as much danger as I am and I'm not leaving..." Donna ground out.

"Dad! You're still not listening!"

"Let me explain…" He pushed a lever and teleported the girls away. "Oh, that's how you do it!"

"Doctor!" River called to him. The Doctor ran back to the round room.

The girls started to appear inside the TARDIS, but before the process could finish they disappeared again, screaming.

"Where did it go?" the Doctor asked, looking for a shadow.

"It's just gone. I... I looked round, one shadow. See," proper Dave showed him.

"Is that it, does that mean we can leave? I don't want to hang around here," River confessed.

"I don't know why we're still here. We can leave him, can't we? I mean, no offence..." snivelled Mr Lux.

"Shut up, Mr. Lux," said River, her patience waning.

"Did you feel anything? Like an energy transfer? Anything at all?" The Doctor asked Dave.

"No, no, but, look, it's, it's gone!" He started to turn around to show he was clear.

"Stop there, stop, stop, stop there, stop moving! They're never just gone. And they never give up." He knelt down and started to investigate shadows with the sonic. "Well, this one's benign."

"Hey, who turned out the lights?"

"No-one, they're fine," the Doctor said, puzzled.

"No, seriously, turn them back on!" exclaimed proper Dave.

"They are on!" announced River.

"I can't see a ruddy thing."

"Dave, turn round," the Doctor instructed calmly.

Proper Dave turned back to the group slowly, his face invisible in the darkened helmet. "What's going on? Why can't I see? Is the power gone, are we safe here?"

"Dave, I want you stay still, absolutely still." Dave suddenly stiffened. "Dave, Dave? Dave, can you hear me, are you all right? Talk to me, Dave."

"I'm fine, I'm Ok, I'm... I'm fine."

"I want you to stay still, absolutely still," continued the Doctor.

"I'm fine, I'm OK, I'm, I'm fine. I can't... Why can't I? I... I can't... Why can't I? I... I can't... Why can't I? I..." The light on Proper Dave's communicator was blinking.

"He's gone. He's ghosting," River said quietly.

"Then why is he still standing?" sniffed Mr Lux.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights? Hey! Who turned out the lights?" Cautiously, the Doctor moved closer to Proper Dave.

"Doctor, don't!" cried River.

"Dave, can you hear me?"

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" He grabbed the Doctor's neck and started choking him. His helmet suddenly lit up, Proper Dave was dead and only a skeleton was left in the space suit. "Who turned out the lights? Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

"Excuse me!" cried River indignantly. She used her sonic to stun the skeleton and free the Doctor.

"Back from it, get back, right back!" yelled the Doctor.

The group backed away but they were cornered by the skeleton/Dave, moving towards them in an awkward manner.

"Doesn't move very fast does it?" remarked River.

"It's a swarm in a suit. But it's learning," the Doctor retorted.

Several shadows reached out from skeleton/Dave and moved towards the group.

"What do we do? Where do we go?" snivelled Mr Lux.

"See that wall behind you? DUCK!" Mr Lux ducked and River used a sonic blaster to make a hole in the wall.

"Squareness gun!" exclaimed the Doctor.

"Everybody out. Go, go, go! Move it, move, move! Move it, move, move!" ordered River, soldierlike. They get out of the room and arrive to a shadowy aisle between book shelves. "You said not every shadow."

"But any shadow!"

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

"Run!" shouted River grabbing his hand. They all bolted.

The Doctor was fiddling on a lamp with the sonic, River was near him while the rest of the group just sat there panting.

"Trying to boost the power. Light doesn't stop them, but it slows them down," he explained.

"So, what's the plan? Do we have a plan?" River fired at him. She pointed her screwdriver to the lamp too and the light became stronger.

"Your screwdriver... Looks exactly like mine."

"Yeah. You gave it to me," responded River cheekily.

"I don't give my screwdriver to anyone."

"I'm not anyone."

"Who are you?"

"What's the plan?" River repeated to change the subject.

"I teleported Donna and Jenny back to the TARDIS. If we don't get back there in under five hours, emergency program one will activate."

"Take them to earth, yeah. See this is your past for me, and in your future Jenny has this thing about being not listened to. If you wanna make to up to her, you've got to prove to her that you respect her." She slapped him on the back, before she turned to the rest of the group. "We need to get a shift on."

The Doctor looked at his sonic and suddenly became very concerned. "They're not there. I should've received a signal, the console signals me if there's a teleport breach."

"Well, maybe the co-ordinates have slipped. The equipment here's ancient," River suggested.

The Doctor ran to a Node standing nearby. "Donna Noble. There's a Donna Noble and a, a Jenny somewhere in this library. Do you have the software to locate her position?"

The Node turned it's head to the Doctor to reveal it was wearing Donna's face. "Donna Noble has left the Library. Donna Noble has been saved. Progenation 9836/0.567 has left the Library. Progenation 9836/0.567 has been saved.

"Donna!" The Doctor whispered, horrified.

"Donna Noble has left the Library. Donna Noble has been saved. Progenation 9836/0.567 has left the Library. Progenation 9836/0.567 has been saved."

"How can it be Donna? How's that possible?" asked River, agast.

"Donna Noble has left the Library. Donna Noble has been saved. Progenation 9836/0.567 has left the Library. Progenation 9836/0.567 has been saved."

"Oh, Donna! Jenny!" the Doctor couldn't move. They had never made it up. Jenny was gone, and she had hated him.

"Donna Noble has left the Library."

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" Skeleton/Dave appeared in the aisle but the Doctor was too devastated to care, he just stared at the Node in horror.

"Doctor!" shouted River.

"Donna Noble has been saved."

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

"Progenation 9836/0.567 has left the Library."

"Doctor, we've got to go, now!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him after the rest of the group.

"Progenation 9836/ 0.567 has been saved."

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

"Donna Noble has left the Library. Donna Noble has been saved."

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

"Progenation 9836/ 0.567 has left the Library. Progenation 9836/ 0.567 has been saved."

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

"Donna Noble has left the Library. Donna Noble has been saved."

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

"Progenation 9836/0.567 has left the Library." They were cornered: skeleton/Dave was coming from one end of the aisle and darkness moved closer from the other end.

"Doctor, what are we gonna do?" begged River.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

"Donna Noble has left the Library. Donna Noble has been saved."


	9. Chapter 9 The whisper

"Hey, who turned out the lights? Hey, who turned out the lights?"

River used her squareness gun on the wall. "This way, quickly. Move!"

"Hey, who turned out the lights?" They ran through the gap.

Donna was sitting on a bed looking at herself in a large mirror. She felt like she had forgotten something, yet couldn't remember what it was she had forgotten. There was a knock on the door then a man entered.

"Hello, Donna."

"Who are you?" asked Donna defensively.

"I'm Doctor Moon. I've been treating you since you came here, two years ago."

"Oh God. Doctor Moon, I'm so sorry. What's wrong with me? I didn't know you for a moment."

"And then you remembered. Shall we go for a walk?" They seemed to jolt through reality to the grounds of the hospital. "No more dreams, then? The Doctor and the blue box, time and space."

"How did we get here?"

"We came down the stairs, out the front door. We passed Mrs Ali on the way out."

"Yeah. Yeah, we did. I forgot that," Donna said, still confused.

"And then you remembered. Shall we go down to the river?" The same thing seemed to happen again.

"You said river, and suddenly we're feeding ducks."

"Doctor Moon. Morning," greeted a man who came to stand beside them, holding fishing gear.

"Donna Noble, Lee McAvoy," Doctor Moon introduced.

"Hello, Lee."

"Hello, D, D, D"

"Ooo, you've got bit of a stammer there. Bless."

"D, D"

"Oh, skip to a vowel. They're easy."

Doctor Moon and Donna were suddenly back at the hospital. "How did we leave it, him and me?"

"I got the impression he was inviting you fishing tomorrow."

Reality snap to Lee's room. Donna entered in a sequined dress.

"So. Fishing."

The couple found themselves once again at the river, fishing, sitting under a large umbrella in the rain.

"D. D."

"Gorgeous, and can't speak a word. What am I going to do with you?"

Donna was suddenly being carried over the threshold in a wedding dress. "Welcome home, M, Mrs McAvoy."

Doctor Moon was in the living room, looking through the family album while the children run around.

"Stop it. Stop it now. We've got a visitor." Donna scolded them.

"You've done so much in seven years, Donna."

"Sometimes it feels more like seventy. Mind you, sometimes it feels like no time at all."

Doctor Moon picked up his briefcase to leave. "Can I just say what a pleasure it is to see you fully integrated."

Doctor Moon seemed to fizzle out of existence to be replaced by the Doctor fiddling with his sonic screwdriver. "No, the signal's definitely coming from the moon. I'm blocking it, but it's trying to break through. Donna!" Doctor Moon returned.

"Sorry. Mrs Angelo's rhubarb surprise. Will I never learn?" Moon said coolly

"Oh, the Doctor. I saw the Doctor," Donna said, realisation dawning.

"Yes, you did, Donna. And then, you forgot."

"Doctor Moon. Oh, hello. Shall I make you a cup of tea?" Donna gaped in surprise.

Jenny hurt all over. Especially her head. Her height kept flickering. Tall, short, tall, short. He head was being smacked between two different places. Child adult child adult. There was a man reaching out for her. A man and a woman reaching for her on the other side. She could hear a man calling her name. A voice that simultaneously brought anger and comfort to her.

The large moon was hanging high in the orange sky. River cut a square in the wall with her gun and entered. "OK, we've got a clear spot. In, in, in! Right in the centre. In the middle of the light, quickly. Don't let your shadows cross. Doctor."

"I'm doing it," he replied

"There's no lights here. Sunset's coming. We can't stay long. Have you found a live one?"

"Maybe. It's getting harder to tell. What's wrong with you?" The Doctor asked his sonic screwdriver angrily.

"We're going to need a chicken leg. Who's got a chicken leg? Thanks, Dave."She threw the meat into the shadow, and once again it was just bone before it hit the ground. "Okay. Okay, we've got a hot one. Watch your feet."

"They won't attack until there's enough of them. But they've got our scent now. They're coming."

"Oh, yeah, who is he? You haven't even told us. You just expect us to trust him?" other Dave shot at River.

"He's the Doctor."

"And who is the Doctor?" sniffed Mr Lux.

"The only story you'll ever tell, if you survive him," River retorted.

"You say he's your friend, but he doesn't even know who you are," Anita joined in the assault.

"Listen, all you need to know is this. I'd trust the Doctor to the end of the universe. And actually, we've been.

"He doesn't act like he trusts you," Anita pushed.

"Yeah, there's a tiny problem. He hasn't met me yet." She went over to where the Doctor was still scanning shadows. "What's wrong with it?"

"There's a signal coming from somewhere, interfering with it."

"Then use the red settings." River suggested as if he was being obtuse.

"It doesn't have a red setting."

"Well, use the dampers."

"It doesn't have dampers."

"It will do one day," she told him.

The Doctor took River's sonic screwdriver from her. "So, some time in the future, I just give you my screwdriver."

"Yeah."

"Why would I do that?"

"I didn't pluck it from your cold dead hands, if that's what you're worried about."

"And I know that because?"

"Listen to me. You've lost your friend, and your daughter. You're angry. I understand. But you need to be less emotional, Doctor, right now."

"Less emotional? I'm not emotional."

"There are five people in this room still alive. Focus on that. Dear God, you're hard work! It's like _I'm _bloody parenting _You!"_

" What do you mean '_I'm _parenting _you'? _Who are you?"

"Oh, for heaven's sake! Look at the pair of you. We're all going to die right here, and you're just squabbling," Mr Lux complained.

"Doctor, one day you're going to know me and remember me and trust me completely, but I can't wait for you to find that out. So I'm going to tell you something very important. I'ts a clue. A spoiler. And I'm sorry. I'm really very sorry." River leaned in and whispered in the Doctor's ear, and he looked stunned. "Are we good? Doctor, are we good?"

"Yeah, we're good."

"Good." River took back her screwdriver and left him.

"Know what's interesting about my screwdriver? Very hard to interfere with. Practically nothing's strong enough. Well, some hairdryers, but I'm working on that. So there is a very strong signal coming from somewhere, and it wasn't there before. So what's new? What's changed? Come on! What's new? What's different?" The doctor babbled at the group.

"I don't know. Nothing. It's getting dark?" guessed other Dave.

"It's a screwdriver. It works in the dark. Moon rise. Tell me about the moon. What's there?"

"It's not real. It was built as part of the Library. It's just a Doctor Moon," Lux informed them.

"What's a Doctor Moon?"

"A virus checker. It supports and maintains the main computer at the core of the planet."

"Well, still active. It's signalling. Look. Someone somewhere in this library is alive and communicating with the moon. Or, possibly alive and drying their hair. No, the signal is definitely coming from the moon. I'm blocking it, but it's trying to break through." An image of Donna appeared. "Donna!" Donna disappears again. "Donna? Jenny?"

"That was her. That was Donna! Can you get her back? What was that?" River asked him, in quick fire succession.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm trying to find the wavelength. Argh, I'm being blocked."

"Professor?" interrupted Anita.

"Just a moment."

"It's important. I have two shadows."

"Okay. Helmets on, everyone. Anita, I'll get yours," River ordered.

"It didn't do Proper Dave any good," remarked Anita.

"Just keep it together, okay?"

"Keeping it together. I'm only crying. I'm about to die. It's not an overreaction," Anita sniffled. River put the helmet on Anita.

"Hang on," the Doctor interrupted. The Doctor soniced the visor black.

"Oh God, they've got inside," gasped River.

"No, no, no. I just tinted her visor. Maybe they'll think they're already in there, leave her alone."

"Do you think they can be fooled like that?"

"Maybe. I don't know. It's a swarm. It's not like we chat."

"Can you still see in there?" other Dave asked her.

"Just about."

"Just, just, just stay back. Professor, a quick word, please."

"What?"

"Down here." They crouched down.

"What is it?"

"Look, you said there are five people still alive in this room," the Doctor stated.

"Yeah, so?"

"So, why are there six?"

They look up to see the skeleton of Dave has caught up to them. "Hey, who turned out the lights?"

"Run!" yelled the Doctor.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?"

"Here we are, Doctor Moon."

Donna was in her living room.

"Mummy, I made you!" cried a little girl.

"Oh, that's nice, Ella. Where's the face?"

"I don't know."

"Did you see Doctor Moon? Did he leave?" Donna asked as Lee entered, wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase.

"Daddy!" cried the Children.

"Hey! Hello, you two. Come here. Big hugs. Big Daddy hugs."

"Look what I made."

"Oh. It's Mummy."

"Er, it hasn't got a face. Did you see Doctor Moon?"

"No. Why, was he here?"

"Yeah, just a second ago. You must have passed him." Donna looked out of the window and caught a brief glimpse of a woman in long black Victorian dress walking away there was someone by her side. Flickering in and out of existence.

"You all right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. It's just…"

"Just?"

"Nothing. It's been a long day, that's all. I'm just tired."

They were suddenly in their bedroom.

"You okay?" Lee asked her.

"I said I was tired, and, and we put the kids to bed, and we watched television," Donna said as if she wasn't sure of herself. The letterbox rattled. "Was that a letter?"

"It's midnight." Lee answered.

"Go and see what it is." Lee left the room. Donna looked out of the window and saw the woman in black and the glitch more clearly. She is wearing a veil. And that glitch triggered a wave of recognition.

Lee returned, "The world is wrong."

"What?" Donna asked him, taken aback.

"For you. Weird, though. Dear Donna, the world is wrong. Meet us at your usual play park, two o'clock tomorrow."

The woman walked away and the glitch had disappeared. "Nutter," said Donna.

Donna had brought her children to play at the playground. The woman is sitting alone on a bench. The glitch, fading in and out of existence unnoticed by everyone else.

"All right, you two, off you go. No fighting," Donna told her kid's before she sat next to the woman. "I got your note last night. The world is wrong. What's that mean?"

"No, you didn't," answered a familiar voice.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You didn't get my note last night. You got it a few seconds ago. Having decided to come, you suddenly found yourself arriving. That is how time progresses here, in the manner of a dream. You've suspected that before, haven't you, Donna Noble?"

"How do you know me?"

"We met before, in the library. With Jenny. You two were kind to me. I hope now to return that kindness.

"Your voice. I recognise it."

"Yes, you do. I am what is left of Miss Evangelista."

"It's me Donna!" a voice came from the centre of the glitch. It hurt to look at it. The voice was crackling between that of a child and that of-

"Jenny!"

The group ran through a high level walkway to another library skyscraper.

"Professor, go ahead. Find a safe spot."

"It's a carnivorous swarm in a suit. You can't reason with it."

"Five minutes," the Doctor responded firmly.

"Other Dave, stay with him. Pull him out when he's too stupid to live. Two minutes, Doctor."

Dave's skeleton barged through the doors. "Hey, who turned out the lights?"

"You hear that? Those words? That is the very last thought of the man who wore that suit before you climbed inside and stripped his flesh. That's a man's soul trapped inside a neural relay, going round and round forever. Now, if you don't have the decency to let him go, how about this? Use him. Talk to me. It's easy. Neural relay. Just point and think. Use him, talk to me."

"Hey, who turned out the lights?"

"The Vashta Nerada live on all the worlds in this system, but you hunt in forests. What are you doing in a library?"

"We should go. Doctor!"

"In a minute. You came to the library to hunt. Why? Just tell me why?"

"We did not." The voice was different. Whispery and gravelly.

"Oh, hello."

"We did not."

"Take it easy, you'll get the hang of it. Did not what?" encouraged the Doctor.

"We did not come here."

"Well, of course you did. Of course you came here."

"We come from here."

"From here?"

"We hatched here."

"But you hatch from trees. From spores in trees."

"These are our forests."

"You're nowhere near a forest. Look around you."

"These are our forests."

"You're not in a forest, you're in a library. There are no trees in a… library."

"We should go. Doctor!"

"Books. You came in the books. Microspores in a million, million books."

"We should go. Doctor!"

"Oh, look at that. The forests of the Vashta Nerada, pulped and printed and bound. A million, million books, hatching shadows."

"We should go. Doctor!"

"Oh, Dave! Oh Dave, I'm so sorry," the doctor apologised, looking at the suited skeleton that had previously been other Dave.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?"

"We should go. Doctor!"

"Thing about me, I'm stupid. I talk too much. Always babbling on. This gob doesn't stop for anything. Want to know the only reason I'm still alive? Always stay near the door." The Doctor opened a trapdoor with his sonic screwdriver and dropped. He hung on to a support strut and inched his way along, screwdriver clenched between his teeth.

Please review! I love 'em! Keep reading to find out what river's spoiler was if it wasn't his name.


	10. Chapter 10 The last spoiler

Donna gaped at Jenny. Jenny shot her a flickering fractured smile.

"I suggested we meet here because a playground is the easiest place to see it. To see the lie," Miss Evangelista told her.

"What lie?" asked Donna

"The children. Look at the children," responded Evangelista.

"Why do you wear that veil? If I had a face like yours, I wouldn't hide it."

"You remember my face, then? The memories are all still there. The library, the Doctor, Jenny, me. You've just been programmed not to look."

"Sorry, but you're dead," Donna stated, bluntly apologetic.

"In a way, we're all dead here, Donna. We are the dead of the library."

"Well, what about the children? The children aren't dead. My children aren't dead," Donna's voice was defiant and angry.

"Your children were never alive."

"Don't you say that. Don't you dare say that about my children!"

"Look at your children. Look at all of them, really look," Evangelista demanded. Donna looked to see all the children in the playground were Ella and Joshua, repeated over and over. "They're not real. Do you see it now? They're all the same. All the children of this world, the same boy and the same girl, over and over again."

"Stop it. Just stop it. Why are you doing this? Why are you wearing that veil?" Donna pulled off Evangelista's veil. Her face was distorted, skewed and stretched. Donna screamed.

Night had fallen in the library. River and her remaining team were in another round room. She was checking the shadows with her screwdriver. "You know, it's funny, I keep wishing the Doctor was here."

"The Doctor is here, isn't he? He is coming back, right?" Anita asked her, seeking reassurance.

"You know when you see a photograph of someone you know, but it's from years before you knew them. And it's like they're not quite finished. They're not done yet. Well, yes, the Doctor's here. He came when I called, just like he always seems to. But not the Doctor I know. Now the Doctor I know, I've seen whole armies turn and run away. And he'd just swagger off back to his TARDIS and open the doors with a snap of his fingers. The Doctor and family in the TARDIS. Next stop, everywhere."

"Spoilers. Nobody can open a TARDIS by snapping their fingers. It doesn't work like that," the Doctor told her entering the room.

"It does for the Doctor."

"I am the Doctor."

"Yeah. Some day."

"How are you doing?" he asked looking around the room.

"Where's Other Dave?" said River

"Not coming. Sorry."

"Well, if they've taken him, why haven't they gotten me yet?" asked Anita.

"I don't know. Maybe tinting your visor's making a difference," the Doctor replied pensively.

"It's making a difference all right. No one's ever going to see my face again," Anita said with an attempt at bravado.

"Can I get you anything?" the Doctor said gently.

"An old age would be nice. Anything you can do?"

"I'm all over it."

"Doctor. When we first met you, you didn't trust Professor Song. And then she whispered a word in your ear, and you did. My life so far. I could do with a word like that. What did she say? Give a dead girl a break. Your secrets are safe with me."

"Safe," The Doctor exclaimed.

"What?"

"Safe. You don't say saved. Nobody says saved. You say safe. The data fragment! What did it say?"

"Four thousand and twenty two people saved. No survivors," Lux informed them.

"Doctor?"

"Nobody says saved. Nutters say saved. You say safe. You see, it didn't mean safe. It meant, it literally meant, saved!"

"What happened to your face?" Donna asked, agast.

"Transcription errors. Destroyed my face, did wonders for my intellect. I'm a very poor copy of myself."

"Where are we? Why are the children all the same?"

"The same pattern over and over. It saves an awful lot of space."

"Space?"

"Cyberspace," Miss Evangelista clarified.

"See, there it is, right there. A hundred years ago, massive power surge. All the teleports going at once. Soon as the Vashta Nerada hit their hatching cycle, they attack. Someone hits the alarm. The computer tries to teleport everyone out," the Doctor babbled at them.

"It tried to teleport four thousand twenty two people?" said River in disbelief.

"It succeeded. Pulled them all out, but then what? Nowhere to send them. Nowhere safe in the whole library. Vashta Nerada growing in every shadow. Four thousand and twenty two people all beamed up and nowhere to go. They're stuck in the system, waiting to be sent, like emails. So what's a computer to do? What does a computer always do?"

"It saved them," River concluded.

The Doctor began to draw on a large polished table. "The library. A whole world of books, and right at the core, the biggest hard drive in history. The index to everything ever written, backup copies of every single book. The computer saved four thousand and twenty two people the only way a computer can. It saved them to the hard drive." He circled the middle of his drawing.

Donna Jenny and Miss Evangelista were standing by a bandstand. "Your physical self is stored in the library as an energy signature. It can be actualised again whenever you or the library requires."

"The library? If my face ends up on one of those statues…" Donna tailed off disgustedly.

"You remember the statues?"

"Wait, no, just hang on. So this isn't the real me? This isn't my real body? But I've been dieting," Donna exclaimed angrily.

"What you see around you, this entire world is nothing more than virtual reality."

"So why do you look like that?"

"I had no choice. You teleported. You're a perfect reproduction. I was just a data ghost caught in the Wi-Fi and automatically uploaded."

"And it made you clever?"

"We're only strings of numbers in here. I think a decimal point may have shifted in my IQ. But my face has been the bigger advantage. I have the two qualities you require to see absolute truth. I am brilliant and unloved."

"What about You Jenny?"

"I'm three days old with the body of a young adult. Code read error. I am a child, and an adult. I flicker between the two. But I can feel the telepathic call of my true psyche. This is a dream."

"If this is all a dream, whose dream is it?"

"It's hard to see everything in the data core, even for me, but there is a word. Just one word. Cal."

They were suddenly at the playground.

"Mummy, my knee!" cried Ella

"Oh! Oh, look at that knee. Oh, look at that silly old knee!"

"She's not real. They're fictions. I'm sorry, but now that you understand that, you won't be able to keep a hold. They are sustained only by your belief."

"You don't know. You don't have children," yelled Donna.

"Neither do you," retorted Evangelista. "Donna, for your own sake, let them go!"

An alarm was sounding in the library.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Demanded Lux

"Autodestruct enabled in twenty minutes," The computer informed them.

Donna and her children were walking away from the Park. "Mummy, what did the lady mean? Are we not real?" asked Ella

"Where are we going?" asked Joshua.

"Home!" Donna told them briskly.

They were suddenly in the living room. The lighting was red and an alarm was sounding.

"That was quick, wasn't it, Mummy?" remarked Joshua

"Mummy, what's wrong with the sky?" asked Ella.

"What's maximum erasure?"

"In twenty minutes, this planet's going to crack like an egg."

"No. No, it's all right. The Doctor Moon will stop it. It's programmed to protect Cal," Lux informed them.

The terminal screen went blank. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" cried The Doctor.

"All library systems are permanently offline. Sorry for any inconvenience." The computer voice announced.

"We need to stop this. We've got to save Cal." Lux told them.

"What is it? What is Cal?"

"We need to get to the main computer. I'll show you."

"It's at the core of the planet," exclaimed the Doctor.

"Well, then. Let's go," grinned River. She pointed her screwdriver at the library logo in the middle of the compass rose in the floor. It opened. "Gravity platform."

"I bet I like you."

"As a very good friend of mine would say, you and me are like the Bermuda triangle of don't go there." The four stepped on and went down.

"Mummy, you're hurting my hand." Donna was holding Joshua's hand in a death grip.

"You just, you just stay where I can see you, all right? You, you don't get out of my sight."

"Is it bedtime?" Ella asked her.

They were suddenly in the children's bedroom. The children were tucked up in their attic beds.

"Okay. That was lovely, wasn't it? That was a lovely bedtime. We had warm milk, and we watched cartoons, and then Mummy read you a lovely bedtime story," Donna listed, trying to make herself believe.

"Mummy, Joshua and me, we're not real, are we?"

"Of course you're real. You're as real as anything. Why do you say that?"

"But, Mummy, sometimes, when you're not here, it's like we're not here."

"Even when you close your eyes, we just stop."

"Well, Mummy promises to never close her eyes again." The children suddenly vanished. Donna became frantic. "No! Please! No, please! No! No, no! No, no!"

"Autodestruct in fifteen minutes," the computer updated.

The Doctor looked up to see a globe with swirling energy in it. "The data core. Over four thousand living minds trapped inside it."

"Yeah, well, they won't be living much longer. We're running out of time," River amended gravely.

The Doctor found an access terminal. A girl's voice could be heard. "Help me. Please, help me."

"What's that?" exclaimed Anita.

"Was that a child?" cried River.

"The computer's in sleep mode. I can't wake it up. I'm trying," the Doctor told them. He tapped at the keyboard.

"Doctor, these readings," River gasped.

"I know. You'd think it was dreaming."

"It is dreaming, of a normal life, and a lovely Dad, and of every book ever written," Mr Lux said sadly.

"Computers don't dream," stated Anita.

"Help me. Please help me."

"No, but little girls do." Lux pulled a breaker and a door opened. They ran in.

A node with the face of the little girl turned to face them. "Please help me. Please help me."

"Oh, my God," breathed River.

"It's the little girl. The girl we saw in the computer," said Anita.

"She's not in the computer. In a way, she is the computer. The main command node. This is Cal."

"Cal is a child? A child hooked up to a mainframe? Why didn't you tell me this? I needed to know this!" shouted the Doctor.

"Because she's family! Cal. Charlotte Abigail Lux. My grandfather's youngest daughter. She was dying, so he built her a library and put her living mind inside, with a moon to watch over her, and all of human history to pass the time. Any era to live in, any book to read. She loved books more than anything, and he gave her them all. He asked only that she be left in peace. A secret, not a freak show."

"So you weren't protecting a patent, you were protecting her," the Doctor nodded as it dawned on him.

"This is only half a life, of course. But it's for ever."

"And then the shadows came."

"The shadows. I have to. I have to save. Have to save," the girl repeated.

"And she saved them. She saved everyone in the library. Folded them into her dreams and kept them safe."

"Then why didn't she tell us?" asked Anita.

"Because she's forgotten. She's got over four thousand living minds chatting away inside her head. It must be like being, well, me," The Doctor said, rubbing his forehead.

"So what do we do?

"Autodestruct in ten minutes."

"Easy! We beam all the people out of the data core. The computer will reset and stop the countdown. Difficult. Charlotte doesn't have enough memory space left to make the transfer. Easy! I'll hook myself up to the computer. She can borrow my memory space."

"Difficult. It'll kill you stone dead," River shouted at him.

"Yeah, it's easy to criticise."

"It'll burn out both your hearts and don't think you'll regenerate!"

"I'll try my hardest not to die. Honestly, it's my main thing."

"Doctor!"

"I'm right, this works. Shut up. Now listen. You and Luxy boy, back up to the main library. Prime any data cells you can find for maximum download, and before you say anything else, Professor, can I just mention in passing as you're here, shut up."

"Oh! I hate you sometimes."

"I know!" he replied cheerfully.

"Mister Lux, with me. Anita, if he dies, I'll kill him!" River and Lux left the room.

"What about the Vashta Nerada?" Anita asked the Doctor.

"These are their forests. I'm going to seal Charlotte inside her little world, take everybody else away. The shadows can swarm to their hearts' content."

"So you think they're just going to let us go?"

"Best offer they're going to get."

"You're going to make 'em an offer?"

"They'd better take it, because right now, I'm finding it very hard to make any kind of offer at all. You know what? I really liked Anita. She was brave, even when she was crying. And she never gave in. And you ate her." He cleared her visor to reveal her skull. "But I'm going to let that pass, just as long as you let them pass."

"How long have you known?"

"I counted the shadows. You only have one now. She's nearly gone. Be kind."

"These are our forests. We are not kind."

"I'm giving you back your forests, but you are giving me them. You are letting them go."

"These are our forests. They are our meat." The Shadows stretched out from Anita's suited skeleton towards the Doctor.

"Don't play games with me. You just killed someone I liked. That is not a safe place to stand. I'm the Doctor, and you're in the biggest library in the universe. Look me up.

The shadows paused, then withdrew. "You have one day." The space suit collapsed.

"Oh, Anita," cried River as she re-entered the room.

"I'm sorry. She's been dead a while now. I told you to go!"

"Lux can manage without me, but you can't." He didn't see the flying fist until it collided with his face knocking him out.

River was sitting in the throne like chair by the computer and connecting some wires.

"Autodestruct in two minutes."

"Oh, no, no, no, no. Come on, what are you doing? That's my job."

"Take a day off Daddyo!"

"Why am I handcuffed? Why do you even have handcuffs?"

"I could tell you but you'd have to bleach your brain," She replied cheekily.

"This is not a joke. Stop this now. This is going to kill you! I'd have a chance, you don't have any.

RIVER: You wouldn't have a chance, and neither do I. I'm timing it for the end of the countdown. There'll be a blip in the command flow. That way it should improve our chances of a clean download."

"River, please. No!"

"Funny thing is, this means you've always known how I was going to die. All the time we've been together, you knew I was coming here. The last time I saw you, the real you, the future you, I mean, you turned up on my doorstep with the clan. You took us to Kasterborous to the closest moon overlooking the gap in the stars left by Gallifrey. They all said Goodbye to me. My sweetie said goodbye as well."

"Autodestruct in one minute."

"You said goodbye last. You wouldn't tell me why, but I suppose you knew it was time. My time. Time to come to the library. You even gave me your screwdriver. That should have been a clue." The two screwdrivers and her diary were just out of the Doctor's reach. "There's nothing you can do."

"You can let me do this!"

"If you die here, it'll mean I've never met you, or the Clan, or my sweetie."

"Time can be rewritten!"

"Not those times. Not one line. Don't you dare. It's okay. It's okay. It's not over for you. You'll see me again. You've got all of that to come. You and your family, time and space. You watch us all run.

"River, you told me to find my bad wolf! How did you know that? Know her?"

"Autodestruct in ten."

"You whispered in my ear!"

"Nine, eight, seven."

"She is the most important to me, of all your companions. And to you! Set the wolf loose."

"What does that m –"

"Four, three."

"Ooops! Spoilers," River grinned tears in her eyes.

"Two, one." River joined two power cables together, and there was a blinding light.

Donna and Lee met at the bottom of the staircase in their home. "Donna? What's happening?"

"I don't know, but it's not real. Nothing here's real. The whole world, everything. None of it's real."

"Am I real?" They had begun to wash out in a bright light.

"Of course you're real. I know you're real. Oh God, oh God, I hope you're real." Lee was pulled away from her into the light. "I'll find you. I promise you, I'll find you."

Some massive clues in this one! Shout out to you if you recognise who the Bermuda triangle comment is from! Please review it means the world! And I need feedback. Next up the doctor has some making up to Jen to do…

Who didn't cry a little when River died? I certainly cried!


	11. Chapter 11 Respect and gestures

Mr Lux was working at the desk terminal, in the reception.

"Excuse me?" a man asked him. Lux looked up to see the reception full of many people. "What happened? How did we get here?"

"Look at you. You're back! You're all back! He did it! You're all back. Look at you!" Lux went down the marble stairs to the balcony. "Look at that. Oh, look at that. He did it. Four thousand and twenty two people, saved!"

Down in the Data core, the Doctor was not joyous. The sad Doctor was still handcuffed to the copper pipe, staring glumly at the burnt out body of the one vibrant River Song.

People were teleporting out of the little shop.

"Please be patient. Only three can teleport at a time. Do not state your intended destination until you arrive in your designated slot," the computer informed them.

"Any luck?" The Doctor asked Donna anxiously.

"Jenny hasn't come back through yet. And there wasn't even anyone called Lee in the library that day. I suppose he could have had a different name out here, but, let's be honest, he wasn't real, was he?"

"Maybe not," the Doctor agreed, scanning the crowd for blond hair.

"I made up the perfect man. Gorgeous, adores me, and hardly able to speak a word. What's that say about me?"

"Everything. Sorry, did I say everything? I meant to say nothing. I was aiming for nothing. I accidentally said everything."

"Stand right in the middle of the teleport, please. Keep your hands and feet inside at all times…" a woman instructed the crowds.

"What about you?" Donna asked him.

"…And remember to switch off your mobile comm. unit."

"Are you all right?"

"I'm always all right."

"Is all right special Time Lord code for really not all right at all?"

"Why?"

"Because I'm all right, too."

"Bullshit!" called a voice from behind them.

Donna started laughing at her. "When I said call bullshit you don't actually say bullshit! You've inherited his 'complete plum' gene!"

The doctor Just folded jenny into his chest and held her tight, with his eyes closed. "Come on," He said grabbing each of their hands, before leading them away. They descended the marble staircase and the Doctor put River's TARDIS like diary, and the future sonic on the balcony rail.

"Your friend, Professor Song. She knew you in the future, and she knew us. She talked about a family. A clan, she called it. What did she mean?" Donna wondered.

"Donna, this is her diary. My future. I could look it all up. What do you think? Shall we peek at the end?"

"Spoilers, right?" Donna raised an eyebrow.

"Right," The Doctor agreed. "Come on. The next chapter's this way." They walked back up the stairs.

"But what happened to her?" asked Jenny. "She knows us she could come with us!"

"She died." The Doctor looked guilty and pained. "She died to stop me sacrificing myself to save the people. Not one single one of her times can be rewritten… And I know. Which means for her I knew. And I gave her… my screwdriver." The Doctor froze midstep, which yanked the girls to a halt. The Doctor runs back for the screwdriver. "Why? Why would I give her my screwdriver? Why would I do that? Thing is, future me had years to think about it, all those years to think of a way to save her, and what he did was give her a screwdriver. Why would I do that?" he babbled frustratedly, at top speed. He ripped it open to reveal River's neural relay, which had two green lights on it. "Oh! Oh! Oh, look at that. I'm very good!"

"What have you done?" demanded Donna.

"Saved her." He showed them and started running. The Doctor was running as one green light went out. "Stay with me! You can do it, stay with me! Come on, you and me, one last run! Sorry, River, shortcut!" He soniced the platform they had descended on earlier.

"Platform disabled," announced the Computer. The Doctor dived into the gravity well. The last light was blinking.

He plugged the screwdriver into the Computer and uploaded her neural code to call. Lux's word's echoed in his head. 'It's a half-life but its permanent'.

The Doctor was standing in front of the TARDIS. Jenny and Donna behind him. He held his hand outstretched, and then clicked his fingers. The Door's swung open. He nodded solemnly before ushering them inside the TARDIS.

"We I don't know about you, but I'm going to sit in my bed with a box of tissues and a tub of ice-cream. Don't disturb me for an hour or so. I reckon a good cry is exactly what I need." Donna told them with a sniffle, before walking off to the kitchen to raid the freezer.

Jenny shuffled her feet awkwardly. She felt guilt for her outburst in the Library, and immense regret for shoving him when he tried to comfort her. "Dad…" a great sob shook her. She felt humiliated that she was crying again, but anguish seemed to bubble out uncontrollably, as it suddenly hit her, how overwhelming she had found the whole ordeal. She stumbled towards him.

"I'm Sorry," he croaked, as she buried her face in his shoulder. "I should have listened to you Jenny. It was wrong ignoring you. I respect you, you're not just a new girl. I'm sorry I've let you get hurt, and I'm sorry I denied you were my daughter. I'm sorry. I will always listen to you."

"Please never ignore me again," she begged him. "When I was in Cal's world, I wasn't real. No one could see me and I was nothing. I never want to be unimportant again!"

"Jenny you're very important. Both to me and Donna. What would we do without you refereeing eh? Eh?" he smiled and checked her under the chin. She gave him a watery smile.

"You're not okay are you," she told him sternly.

He looked off into space for a moment. "No I'm not Jen. But I reckon I will be. I'm worried about Donna. Her, would be husband, left her for a giant spider, now this... See boyfriends are dangerous. They only man you need in your life is your dad. I'll always be here! Even when I'm being a complete prat. Daughter I will protect you, **daughter I will protect you,**" he added in a tuneful murmur.

The Galifreyan words swirled in her ears. The meaning escaped her, yet the lilting sound and the double pulse under her ear made her feel strangely at home. She looked up at him, he smiled down at her. "You're still in the dog house," she warned him.

"Wouldn't expect anything less, deputy TARDIS captain."

"Really?" she squealed.

"Well yeah. I'm trying to show you how much I respect you and how important I think you are. I'll admit I bad at gesture's but –"

"It's perfect!" Jenny kissed his cheek. "Night Dad."

The Doctor had sat in silence all night, hands to his temples, using his entire mind to try and weave some meaning into River's last spoiler. Find your bad wolf. Set her loose. Loose, not free. Saved not safe. It didn't mean set her free. He didn't think her could set her free, he felt things for her he could never admit to. Loose… loose…? Loose… loose.

The next Day Donna felt much lighter, sometimes and emotional dam burst and a good solid hour of crying can make you feel like a new woman the next morning. She walked down to the console room and found the Doctor surrounded by numerous thick books. "More murder mysteries' Doctor?"

"Nope, I'm looking up the dictionary definition for the word loose in every dictionary I have. I have dictionaries from practically everywhere."

"Well if that's your type…" Donna scoffed at him.

"You wouldn't know my type if it came up and slapped you in-"

"Blonde!" Donna cut across him.

"How d'you –"

"Martha," Donna singsonged. "We got on really well! She's good at spilling beans."

"What? She… she what? That… that… I could have been really mean about her fancying me and then she goes and… and…" He trailed off looking disgruntled.

"I think she was warning me," Donna told him gently, seriousness entering her tone. "She wasn't trying to rat you out. She was worried about me." She looked thoughtful for a second, and then started to take this piss again. "I am not so desperate as to stoop so low you are not my type, you –"

"-Skinny little nothing, I know, I know." He finished for her with a grin.

"What are you actually doing spaceman?" She asked sitting next to him.

"What I said. It was a Phrase River used. In regards to a certain… let's say legend. I don't understand exactly what she meant, but it was a clue. The last clue, which means it must be crucial."

"So it's about a woman who is great in bed?" Donna concluded in a confused voice.

The Doctor began to choke in shock, yet his mind had still fallen into the gutter. '_I bet she would be_' he thought before he could stop himself. He suddenly felt like a dirty old man and internally chastised himself. Where had that come from? _'Years of remembering what her lips felt like that's where.' _"What makes you think that?" he asked, painfully aware she was watching every emotion that passed over his red face.

"Well the shifty look implies that it's a woman, and a legend, sounds kinda blokes down the pub bantery, and… well you are sort of a guy. Sort of… ishy…" she had cocked her head to one side and was looking him up and down with a sceptical expression on her face. "… and the loose thing as well… Do time lords have sex?" she suddenly asked bluntly.

"Donna, I don't ask about you're sexlife now do I?" He stood up closing her down. Conversation over. She might have been intimidated if he didn't look so adorably awkward.

'_Like a puppy kind of adorable. You wouldn't shag a puppy.' _Donna smirked in her head. "So any destination plans?"

"I'm thinking a lazy, recreational kind of trip. Sightseeing, safety, soft option."

"Sounds nice. I think Jenny's still in bed though."

"Mental strain. Being a glitch wasn't good for her, she's healing. I can feel it up here. He tapped his temple. It's nice to have that presence," he confessed quietly.

"You are not alone," Donna told him, rubbing his arm before turning for the stairs. He felt a shiver at her words. Donna seemed to have a knack for finding painful phrases…

Whadaya think? Please give me feedback! x


	12. Chapter 12 What could go wrong?

The Doctor was stacking up all the dictionaries when the girls reentered the console room. "Whoa! Someone had a nerd fest," giggled Jenny.

"Nah he's looking for his loose legend." Donna paused to waggle her eyebrows at him suggestively. While jenny wasn't looking he pointed at her and then drew his fingers across his throat. "Bring it time boy. Anyways, where are we going today?"

"Midnight," He replied. "Planet spoiled by the sun, made of jewels, sightseeing, there's a restaurant, and a spa," He wrinkled his nose as if the idea of a spa offended him.

"I know what I'm doing with my day!" sang Donna happily. "All right then, what am I wearing?

"Indoor clothes, you can't go outside, you'd die."

"I thought you said safe?"

"It will be safe! We're not going outside. Now go get changed you two!"

On the glittering alien world, an attendant brought a telephone to Donna. She is lounging by the spa's pool, wearing a bathrobe.

"I said, no," Donna said before the Doctor could get a word in edgeways.

"Sapphire waterfall. It's a waterfall made of sapphires." Came the indignant reply from down the line. "This enormous jewel, the size of a glacier reaches the Cliffs of Oblivion, and then shatters into sapphires at the edge. They fall a hundred thousand feet into a crystal ravine."

"I bet you say that to all the girls," mocked Donna.

"Oh, come on. They're boarding now. It's no fun if I see it on we see it without you. Four hours, that's all it takes"

"No, that's four hours there and four hours back. That's like a school trip," she shot the statement down.

"Which means eight to nine hours, more than I've been away from you in my whole four day life!" Jenny tried to guilt trip her.

"Nice try Jen, I'd rather go sunbathing. If you're gonna miss me that much, you could join me at the spa."

"You be careful, that's Xtonic sunlight," the Doctor warned her.

"Oh, I'm safe. It says in the brochure this glass is fifteen feet thick."

"All right, I give up. I'll be back for dinner. We'll try that anti-gravity restaurant. With bibs."

"That's a date. Well, not a date. Oh, you know what I mean. Oh, get off."

"Byeeeeeeee!" squealed Jenny.

"See you later," the Doctor told her.

"Oi! And you be careful, all right?" Donna answered.

"Nah. Taking a big space truck with a bunch of strangers across a diamond planet called Midnight? What could possibly go wrong?" He hung up the on her.

The Doctor and jenny took their seats on the shuttle, passengers were still boarding.

"Complimentary juice pack and complimentary peanuts," the hostess offered to a woman.

"Just the headphones, please.

"There you go." The hostess left the woman in the blue suit and went to the Doctor and Jenny.

"That's the headphones for channels one to thirty six. Modem link for 3D vidgames. Complimentary earplugs. Complimentary slippers. Complimentary juice pack and complimentary peanuts. I must warn you some products may contain nuts."

"That'll be the peanuts," grinned the doctor.

"Enjoy your trip."

"Oh, I can't wait. Allons-y."

"I'm sorry?"

"It's French, for let's go…" he explained, trailing off.

"Fascinating." The hostess moved on.

"Guess they don't speak French here," shrugged Jenny.

A rotund man and his petite Indian assistant had taken the seats behind them. "Headphones for channels one to thirty six."

"Oh no, thank you, not for us," he declined.

"Earplugs, please," asked the assistant.

"There you go."

"They call it the Sapphire Waterfall, but it's no such thing. Sapphire's an aluminium oxide, but the glacier is just compound silica with iron pigmentation," the man announced loudly.

The hostess moved on to another couple. "Complimentary juice pack and complimentary peanuts."

"Thank you." The woman took the lot.

"Have you got that pillow for my neck?" The man asked his assistant.

"Yes, sir."

"And the pills?"

"Yes, all measured out for you. There you go."

Hobbes leant over to meet the Doctor and Jenny. "Hobbes. Professor Winfold Hobbes."

"I'm the Doctor. Hello. My daughter Jenny."

"It's my fourteenth time," Hobbes bragged.

"Oh. My first."

"And I'm Dee Dee, Dee Dee Blasco," his assistant introduced herself.

"Don't bother the man. Where's my water bottle?" scolded Hobbes.

"Complimentary slippers, complimentary juice pack, and complimentary peanuts. I must warn you some products may contain nuts."

An older teenage boy was sitting across the aisle from his parents. "Don't be silly. Come and sit with us. Look, we get slippers," his mum, the grabby woman scolded.

"Jethro. Do what your mother says," weighed in his Father.

"I'm sitting here," Jethro insisted. He looked up an caught Jenny's eye.

"Oh, he's ashamed of us, but he doesn't mind us paying, does he?" Huffed Jethro's Dad.

"Oh, don't you two start. Should I save the juice pack or have it now? Look, peach and clementine," cried the grabby woman.

All passengers had finished boarding. "Ladies and gentlemen, and variations thereupon, welcome on board the Crusader Fifty. If you would fasten your seatbelts, we'll be leaving any moment. Doors." The doors closed. "Shields down." The windows became shielded. "I'm afraid the view is shielded until we reach the Waterfall Palace. Also, a reminder. Midnight has no air, so please don't touch the exterior door seals. Fire exit at the rear, and should we need to use it, you first. Now I will hand you over to Driver Joe."

A new voice crackled over the intercom. "Driver Joe at the wheel. There's been a diamondfall at the Winter Witch Canyon, so we'll be taking a slight detour, as you'll see on the map. The journey covers five hundred kliks to the Multifaceted Coast. Duration is estimated at four hours. Thank you for travelling with us, and as they used to say in the olden days, wagons roll." The shuttle shook a bit.

"For your entertainment, we have the Music Channel playing retrovids of Earth classics." A dropdown screens showed a pop video of some woman. "Also, the latest artistic installation from Ludovico Klein." Something holographic appeared. "Plus, for the youngsters, a rare treat. The Animation Archives." A projection of Betty Boop onto a screen in front of the drivers cabin door. "Four hours of fun time. Enjoy."

"Explains the earplugs," yelled Jenny.

The woman at the front looked up from her book, very unhappy. The Doctor powered up his sonic screwdriver and suddenly it went quiet. The screens returned to their docks.

"Well, that's a mercy," stated Hobbes.

"I do apologise, ladies and gentlemen, and variations thereupon. We seem to have a failure of the Entertainment System."

"Oh," said the doctor with false confusion.

"But what do we do?" asked the grabby woman.

"We've got four hours of this? Four hours of just sitting here?" asked her husband.

"Tell you what. We'll have to talk to each other instead!" the Doctor announced brightly.

98 kliks later... the Doctor's idea had caught on. Everyone was listening to Val and Biff's stories.

"…so Biff said, I'm going swimming," said the grabby woman, who turned out to be called Val.

"Oh, I was all ready. Trunks and everything. Nose plug," Biff continued.

"He had this little nose plug. You should have seen him," Val laughed.

"And I went marching up to the lifeguard. And he was a Shamboni. You know, those big foreheads?"

"Great big forehead," Val agreed with him.

"And I said, where's the pool? And he said…"

"The pool is abstract!" the couple laughed together. Jethro looked bored, embarrassed and disgusted.

"It wasn't a real pool," squawked grabby Val.

"It was a concept," added Biff.

"And you were wearing a nose plug." The doctor shook his head slowly in disbelief.

"I was like this. Ooo, where's the pool?"

Jethro huffed and sat next to Jenny. "Hi you look normal."

"Is that supposed to be a chat up line?" Jenny smirked.

"Did it work?"

"Jenny." She held out her hand.

"Jethro." He shook it.

150 kliks later... The Doctor and Dee Dee were in the galley, getting drinks from a thermos jug. "I'm just a second-year student, but I wrote a paper on the Lost Moon of Poosh, Professor Hobbes read it, liked it, took me on as researcher, just for the holidays. Well, I say researcher. Most of the time he's got me fetching and carrying. But it's all good experience."

"And did they ever find it?" The Doctor asked her.

"Find what?"

"The Lost Moon of Poosh."

"Oh, no. Not yet."

"Well. Maybe that'll be your great discovery, one day. Here's to Poosh," the Doctor said encouragingly.

"Poosh."

209 kliks later… the Doctor was sitting with Sky, the woman from the front, as they unwrapped their meals.

"She's my daughter. And I'm with this friend of mine, Donna. She stayed behind in the Leisure Palace. You?"

"No, it's just me."

"Oh, I've done plenty of that. Travelling on my own. I love it. Do what you want, go anywhere."

"No, I'm still getting used to it. I've found myself single rather recently, not by choice."

"What happened?"

"Oh, the usual. She needed her own space, as they say. A different galaxy, in fact. I reckon that's enough space, don't you?"

"Yeah. I had a friend who went to a different universe."

"Oh, what's this, chicken or beef?" Sky changed the subject.

"I think it's both."

Jenny over heard this. The way he said friend. She would have to confer with Donna.

"You look distracted gorgeous," Jethro stated playfully.

"Oh calling me gorgeous now are we?"

"I think I might."

251 kliks later... Professor Hobbes is giving an illustrated lecture. Even Jethro was interested. "So, this is Midnight, do you see, bombarded by the sun. Xtonic rays, raw galvanic radiation. Dee Dee, next slide. It's my pet project. Actually, I'm the first person to research this. Because, you see, the history is fascinating. Because there is no history. There's no life in this entire system. There couldn't be. Before the Leisure Palace Company moved in, no one had come here in all eternity. No living thing."

"But how do you know? I mean, if no one can go outside…" asked Jethro.

"Oh, his imagination. Here we go," huffed Val.

"He's got a point, though," The Doctor said. Jenny flashed the boy a smile.

"Exactly. We look upon this world through glass, safe inside our metal box. Even the Leisure Palace was lowered down from orbit. And here we are now, crossing Midnight, but never touching it," agreed Hobbes.

The shuttle suddenly crunched to a halt.

"We've stopped. Have we stopped?" panicked Val.

"Are we there?" asked Biff

"We can't be, it's too soon," Dee Dee told them.

"They don't stop. Crusader vehicles never stop," added Hobbes.

"If you could just return to your seats. It's just a small delay," the hostess said in a forced calm voice. She then went to the intercom phone.

"Maybe just a pit stop," suggested Biff.

"What's going on?" The hostess asked the intercom.

"There's no pit to stop in. I've been on this expedition fourteen times. They never stop," broadcasted Hobbes.

"Well, evidently we have stopped, so there's no point in denying it," sighed Sky.

"We've broken down," announced Jethro.

"Thanks, Jethro!" spat grabby Val.

"In the middle of nowhere…" he continued in a doom and gloom voice.

"That's enough. Now stop it," scolded Biff.

"Ladies and gentlemen, and variations thereupon. We're just experiencing a short delay. The driver needs to stabilise the engine feeds. It's perfectly routine, so if you could just stay in your seats."

The Doctor walked towards the driver's door. "No, I'm sorry, sir, I. Could you sit please?" requested the hostess.

The Doctor flashed his psychic paper. "There you go. Engine expert. Two ticks." The Doctor opens the driver's door.

"I'm sorry, sir. If you could just sit down. You're not supposed to be in there," The hostess continued, following him into the cockpit.

"Sorry. If you could return to your seat, sir," driver Joe asked him.

"Company insurance. Let's see if we can get an early assessment. So, what's the problem, Driver Joe?"

"We're stabilising the engine feeds. Won't take long."

"Er, no, because that's the engine feed, that line there, and it's fine. And it's a micropetrol engine, so stabilising doesn't really make sense, does it? Sorry. I'm the Doctor, I'm very clever. So, what's wrong?"

"We just stopped. Look, all systems fine, everything's working, but we're not moving," the co-pilot admitted.

The Doctor scanned with his screwdriver. "Yeah, you're right. No faults. And who are you?"

"Claude. I'm the mechanic. Trainee."

"Nice to meet you."

"I've sent a distress signal. They should dispatch a rescue truck, top speed," Joe informed them.

"How long till they get here?"

"About an hour."

"Well, since we're waiting, shall we take a look outside? Just lift the screens a bit?" the Doctor pushed.

"It's a hundred percent Xtonic out there. We'd be vaporised."

"Nah. Those windows are Finitoglass. They'd give you a couple of minutes. Go on, live a little."

"Well…" Joe pondered. He raised the front screen. "Wow."

"Oh, that is beautiful," remarked the Doctor.

"Look at all those diamonds. Poisoned by the sun. No-one can ever touch them."

"Joe, you said we took a detour?" the Doctor interrupted.

"Just about forty kliks to the west."

"Is that a recognised path?"

"No, it's a new one. The computer worked it out on automatic."

"So we're the first. This piece of ground. No one's ever been here before. Not in the whole of recorded history."

"Did you just? No, sorry, it's nothing." Claude looked very unsure.

"What did you see?" the Doctor demanded.

"Just there. That ridge. Like, like a shadow. Just, just for a second."

"What sort of shadow?"

The equipment began to beep. "Xtonic rising. Shields down," said Joe.

"Look, look. There it is, there it is. Look, there," Claude pointed.

"Where? What was it?" The shields had closed.

"Like just something shifting. Something sort of dark, like it was running."

"Running which way?"

"Towards us."

"Right, Doctor, back to your seat. And, er, not a word. Rescue's on its way. If you could close the door. Thank you," said Joe suddenly.

The Doctor walked back into the shuttle. Sky was waiting by the door as the Doctor came out.

"What did they say? Did they tell you? What is it? What's wrong?"

"Oh, just stabilising. Happens all the time."

"I don't need this. I'm on a schedule. This is completely unnecessary," she huffed.

"Back to your seats, thank you," requested the hostess before she went back into the cockpit.

"Excuse me, Doctor, but they're micropetrol engines, aren't they?" asked Dee Dee.

"Now, don't bother the man."

"My father was a mechanic. Micropetrol doesn't stabilise. What does stabilise mean?"

"Well. Bit of flim-flam. Don't worry, they're sorting it out." His eyes met Jenny's. This wasn't good.

"So it's not the engines?" said Hobbes.

"It's just a little pause, that's all," the Doctor reassured them.

"How much air have we got?"

"Professor, it's fine," the Doctor said, a little more firmly.

"What did he say?" squawked Val.

"Nothing." The Doctor began to feel uneasy. Scared people were dangerous people.

"Are we running out of air?" demanded Val.

The hostess reentered the compartment.

"I was just speculating," Hobbes said smugly.

"Is that right, miss? Are we running out of air?" asked Biff.

"Is that what the Captain said?" demanded grabby Val.

"If you could all just remain calm."

"How much air have we got?"

"Mum, just stop it," groaned Jethro.

"I assure you, everything is under control," the hostess placated.

"Well, doesn't look like it to me," sniffed Biff.

"Well, he said it," blamed Val.

"It's fine. The air is on a circular filter," Dee Dee said.

"He started it," Val continued. Everyone started yelling.

"Everyone! Quiet! Thank you. Now, if you'd care to listen to my good friend Dee Dee," The Doctor gestured to her.

"Oh. Er, it's just that, well, the air's on a circular filter, so we could stay breathing for ten years."

"There you go. And I've spoken to the Captain. I can guarantee you everything's fine," The Doctor said in a calming tone. There were suddenly two thumps from outside.

"What was that?" Val demanded again.

"Pack it in you! If you shut up you'll find out." Jenny stood up. This stupid woman was getting on her last nerve.

"It must be the metal. We're cooling down. It's just settling," Decided Hobbes.

"Rocks. It could be rocks falling," added Dee Dee.

BIFF: What I want to know is, how long do we have to sit here.

There were another two bangs on another part of the hull.

"What is that?" asked sky nervously.

"There's someone out there," whined Val.

"Now, don't be ridiculous," scoffed Hobbes.

"Like I said, it could be rocks."

"We're out in the open. Nothing could fall against the sides," said the hostess.

Another two thumps.

"Knock, knock," said the Doctor.

"Who's there?" Jethro played along.

"Is there something out there? Well? Anyone?" wondered Hobbes.

Another two thumps.

"What the hell is making that noise?" cried Sky.

"I'm sorry, but the light out there is Xtonic. That means it would destroy any living thing in a split second. It is impossible for someone to be outside," announced Hobbes.

Another two thumps.

"Well, what the hell is that, then?"

"Sir, you really should get back to your seat," advised the hostess nervously.

The Doctor had stood up and was using his stethoscope on the hull. "Hello?" Jenny got up and stood next to him.

Another two thumps. They were becoming faster.

"It's moving," exclaimed Jethro.

The emergency exit rattled. "It's trying the door," cried val.

"There is no it. There's nothing out there. Can't be," Hobbes stated in a blinkered fashion.

There was more trying of the emergency exit, then two thumps on the roof, and two more on the entrance door.

"That's the entrance. Can it get in?" asked Val.

"No. That door's on two hundred weight hydraulics," Dee Dee told them.

"Stop it. Don't encourage them," scolded Hobbes.

"What do you think it is?" Dee Dee wondered.

"Biff, don't," squawked Val. He was up and trying the door.

"Mister Cane. Better not," the Doctor advised.

"Nah, it's cast iron, that door," Biff remarked raping it with his knuckles three times.

There were three thumps from outside.

"Three times. Did you hear that? It did it three times," shouted Val.

"It answered," exclaimed Jethro.

"It did it three times!"

"All right, all right, all right. Everyone calm down," the Doctor shushed them.

"No, but it answered. It answered. Don't tell me that thing's not alive. It answered him," cried Sky.

Another three thumps.

"I really must insist you get back to your seats," the hostess tried in vain.

"No, don't just stand there telling us the rules. You're the hostess. You're supposed to do something." Sky was working herself into a frenzy.

The Doctor knocked on the door four times. There was a long pause before four thumps were returned by the thing outside.

"What is it? What the hell's making that noise? She said she'd get me. Stop it. Make it stop. Somebody make it stop. Don't just stand there looking at me. It's not my fault. He started it with his stories." Sky was becoming hysterical.

The hostess got on the intercom.

"Calm down!" Cried Dee Dee.

"And he made it worse!"

"You're not helping," Val accused her.

"Why didn't you leave it alone? Stop staring at me. Just tell me what the hell it is."

"Calm down!" Dee Dee repeated.

There were more thumping noised from outside.

"It's coming for me. Oh, it's coming for me. It's coming for me. It's coming for me. It's coming for me." Sky backed up to the driver's door and screamed.

"Get out of there!" The Doctor yelled.

Boom! The whole shuttle rocked from side to side and sparks flew. Jenny noticed the entertainment system coming back online as the lights went out.

"You all right? Okay." Said Biff.

"Arms, legs, neck, head, nose. I'm fine. Everyone else? How are we?" The doctor was checking Jenny for injury with his eyes.

The pop singer on the screen behind the Doctor was replaced by an image of a blonde woman mouthing 'Doctor, Doctor', before it went blank again.

"Dad who was that? On the screen?" Jenny asked him in a low voice. The Doctor looked at the blank screen and then back at her in confusion. "Shoulder length blonde hair, mascara. Mouthed Doctor."

The Doctor froze, staring at the screen before shaking himself and turning back to the panicking crowd, "How are we? Everyone all right?"

"Dad!"

"Earthquake. Must be," deduced Hobbes.

"But that's impossible. The ground is fixed. It's solid," announced Dee Dee.

"We've got torches. Everyone take a torch. They're in the back of the seats," the hostess told them shakily.

"Oh, Jethro. Sweetheart, come here," simpered Val.

"Never mind me. What about her?" He pointed at Sky who was sitting amongst the remains of the front row.

Please review! Sorry this one's a bit crap but I've always though this episode was a bit dry.

Jen's getting some flirtations though! Oooooh! Gonna see some feisty Jen in the next chapter. Keep your eyes peeled for it!


	13. Chapter 13 I'm not my Father

This font is simultaneous speech.

Enjoy! x

"What happened to the seats?" gasped Val.

"Who did that?" asked Biff.

"They've been ripped up," added Val.

"It's all right, it's all right, it's all right. It's over. We're still alive. Look, the wall's still intact. Do you see?" The Doctor said soothingly.

"Joe? Claude?" called the hostess.

"We're safe," the Doctor said in the same placating tone.

"Driver Joe, can you hear me? I'm not getting any response. The intercom must be down." She opened the driver's door and bright light flooded the cabin. An alarm sounded until she managed to close it again.

"What happened? What was that?" Demanded Val.

"Is it the driver? Have we lost the driver?" asked Biff.

"The cabin's gone," gasped the hostess.

"Don't be ridiculous. It can't be gone. How can it be gone?" scoffed Hobbes.

"Well, well, you saw it," retorted Dee Dee.

"There was nothing there, like it was ripped away," whispered the hostess.

"What are you doing?" Biff aimed his torchlight at the panel the Doctor was working on.

"Ah, that's better. Little bit of light. Thank you. Molto bene," the Doctor replied cheerfully, ignoring the rudeness in his tone.

"Do you know what you're doing?" demanded Val.

"The cabin's gone. You'd better leave that wall alone," said Biff threateningly.

"The cabin can't be gone," repeated Hobbes.

"No, it's safe. Any rupture would automatically seal itself," the Doctor informed them. He removed the panel and looked at the wiring. "But something sliced it off. You're right, the cabin's gone."

"But if it gets separated?" gasped the hostess.

"It loses integrity. I'm sorry, they've been reduced to dust. The driver and the mechanic. But they sent a distress signal. Help is on its way. They saved our lives. We are going to get out of here, I promise. We're still alive, and they are going to find us."

"Doctor, look at her," Jethro interrupted. Sky hadn't moved.

"Right. Yes. Sorry. Have we got a medical kit?"

"Why won't she turn around?" Jethro asked.

"What's her name?" he asked.

"Silvestry. Mrs Sky Silvestry," supplied the Hostess.

"Sky? Can you hear me? Are you all right? Can you move, Sky? Just look at me."

"That noise from outside. It's stopped," Jethro remarked.

"Well, thank God for that!" exclaimed Val.

"But what if it's not outside anymore? What if it's inside?" suggested Jethro.

"Inside? Where?" Val demanded.

"It was heading for her." He pointed at sky.

"Sky? It's all right, Sky. I just want you to turn around, face me." The Doctor waited. Sky turned slowly and stared into the torchlight.

"Sky?" The Doctor asked Gently.

"Sky? She repeated tonelessly.

"Are you all right?"

"Are you all right?"

"Are you hurt?" The Doctor looked her over, this was getting weirder by the minute.

"Are you hurt?"

"You don't have to talk."

"You don't have to talk."

"I'm trying to help."

"I'm trying to help."

"My name's the Doctor."

"My name's the Doctor."

"Okay, can you stop?" he was worried now.

"Okay, can you stop?"

"I'd like you to stop."

"I'd like you to stop."

"Why's she doing that?" asked Hobbes.

"Why's she doing that?"

"She's gone mad," cried Biff.

"She's gone mad."

"Stop it," ordered Val

"Stop it."

"I said stop it!"

"I said stop it."

"I don't think she can," Dee Dee told them.

"I don't think she can."

"All right now, stop it. This isn't funny," Hobbes declared

"All right now, stop it. This isn't funny."

"Shush, shush, shush, all of you," The Doctor ordered.

"Shush, shush, shush, all of you.

"My name's Jethro."

"My name's Jethro."

"Jethro, leave it. Just shut up," The doctor shot him a dirty look.

"Jethro, leave it. Just shut up."

"Why are you repeating?" He asked Sky gently.

"Why are you repeating?"

"What is that, learning?"

"What is that, learning"

"Copying?"

"Copying?"

"Absorbing?"

"Absorbing?"

"The square root of pi is 1.772453850905516027298167483341. Wow."

"The square root of pi is 1.772453850905516027298167483341. Wow," sky answered, overlapping him.

"But that's impossible," Gaped Hobbes.

"But that's impossible."

"She couldn't repeat all that," gasped Dee Dee.

"She couldn't repeat all that."

"Tell her to stop," ordered Val

"Tell her to stop."

"She's driving me mad."

"She's driving me mad."

"Just make her stop!"

"Just make her stop!"

The people started talking over each other, with Sky still repeating their words.

"Stop her staring at me. Shut her up," ordered Val.

"Stop her staring at me. Shut her up."

"One more word Val, and G.I Jenny is going to kick in full force, and what I'll be kicking into is you!" Jenny threatened.

"One more word Val, and G.I Jenny is going to kick in full force, and what I'll be kicking into is you."

"It's got to be a trick," gaped the hostess.

"It's got to be a trick. "

"That's impossible," said Dee Dee.

"That's impossible."

"I'm telling you, whatever your name is," began Biff.

"I'm telling you, whatever your name is."

"Now, just stop it, all of you," ordered the Doctor.

"Now, just stop it all of you."

"Her eyes. What's wrong with her eyes?" asked Hobbes

"Her eyes. What's wrong with her eyes?"

"She can copy anything," Said Jethro speculatively.

"She can copy anything."

"Biff, don't just stand there, do something. Make her stop!"

"Biff, don't just stand there, do something. Make her stop."

"You're scaring my wife."

"You're scaring my wife."

"Mrs Silvestry," called the hostess tentatively.

"Mrs Silvestry."

"Six, six, six," said Jethro ominously.

"Six, six, six."

"Pack it in you little shit! You're stirring it is not helping!" Jenny scolded him.

"Pack it in you little shit! You're stirring it is not helping."

"You've changed your tune gorgeous."

"You've changed your tune gorgeous."

"I shook your hand, not held it."

"I shook your hand, not held it."

"She's different. She's something else. Do something. Make her stop," whined Val.

"Make her stop."

The lights came back on, shutting everyone up. "That's the backup system," explained the Hostess.

"Well, that's a bit better," said Biff.

"What about the rescue? How long's it going to take?" demanded Val.

"About sixty minutes, that's all," the hostess told them.

"Then I suggest we all calm down. This panic isn't helping. That poor woman is evidently in a state of self induced hysteria. We should leave her alone."

"Doctor," called Jethro.

"I know," he replied.

"Doctor, now step back. I think you should leave her. Alone. What's she doing?" Sky was talking in tandem with him.

"How can she do that? She's talking with you. And with me. Oh, my God. Biff, what's she doing?" squawked Val.

"She's repeating, at exactly the same time," Jethro told them.

"That's impossible," Cried Dee Dee.

"There's not even a delay," exclaimed Hobbes.

"Oh man, that is weird," remarked Jethro.

"I think you should all be very, very quiet. Have you got that?" the Doctor asked them, a threat in his voice.

"How's she doing it?" demanded grabby Val.

"Mrs Cane, please be quiet," the Doctor's patience was waning

"How can she do that? She's got my voice! She's got my words!"

"Come on, be quiet. Hush, now. Hush. She's doing it to me," said Biff.

"Just stop it, all of you. Stop it, please. Now then, Sky. Are you Sky? Is Sky still in there? Mrs Silvestry? You know exactly what I'm going to say. How are you doing that? Roast beef. Bananas. The Medusa Cascade. Bang! Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, TARDIS. Shamble bobble dibble dooble. Oh, Doctor, you're so handsome. Yes, I am, thank you. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O. First she repeats, then she catches up. What's the next stage?"

"Next stage of what?" Dee Dee inquired.

"That's not her, is it. That's not Mrs Silvestry any more," deduced Jethro.

"I don't think so, no. I think the more we talk, the more she learns. Now, I'm all for education, but in this case, maybe not. Let's just move back. Come on. Come with me. Everyone, get back. All of you, as far as you can. Help me Jen." Jenny began herding them backwards.

"Doctor, make her stop."

"Val, come with me. Come to the back. Stop looking at her. Come on, Jethro. You too. Everyone, come on. Fifty minutes, that's all we need. Fifty minutes till the rescue arrives. And she's not exactly strong. Look at her. All she's got is our voices."

"I can't, I can't look at her. It's those eyes."

"We must not look at goblin men," Dee Dee recited.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Biff.

"It's a poem. Christina Rossetti," the doctor explained shortly.

"We must not look at goblin men. We must not buy their fruits. Who knows upon what soil they fed. Their hungry, thirsty roots?"

"Actually, I don't think that's helping," the Doctor told her.

"She's not a goblin, or a monster. She's just a very sick woman," decided Hobbes

"Maybe that's why it went for her," Jethro speculated.

"There is no it," denied Hobbes.

"Think about it though. That knocking went all the way round the bus until it found her. And she was the most scared out of all of us. Maybe that's what it needed. That's how it got in," he continued.

"For the last time. Nothing can live on the surface of Midnight," exclaimed Hobbes

"Professor, I'm glad you've got an absolute definition of life in the universe, but perhaps the universe has got ideas of its own, hmm? Now trust me, I've got previous. I think there might well be some consciousness inside Mrs Silvestry, but maybe she's still in there. And it's our job to help her." The Doctor looked around the room for signs of disagreement. They came.

"Well, you can help her. I'm not going near," Biff stepped back.

"No, I've got to stay back, because if she's copying us, then maybe the final stage is becoming us. I don't want her becoming me, or things could get a whole lot worse. You two Jenny. Against the wall, think up a shield. If I feel you muted then you're doing it right." He tapped his temple.

"Oh, like you two are so special," scoffed Val

"As it happens, yes, we are. So that's decided. We stay back, and we wait. When the rescue ship comes, we can get her to hospital."

"We should throw her out," said the hostess suddenly.

"I beg your pardon?" Hobbes was shocked.

"Can we do that?" asked Val eagerly.

"Don't be ridiculous," said the Doctor.

"Sure you can Val –"

"Jenny!"

" – but I Will personally guarantee that you will be thrown out next," she finished cracking her knuckles.

"Jenny behave! Nobody is getting thrown out."

"I said_ if_…" Jenny said innocently.

"That thing, whatever it is, killed the driver, and the mechanic, and I don't think she's finished yet," the hostess told them.

"She can't even move," The Doctor told the group.

"Look at her. Look at her eyes. She killed Joe, and she killed Claude, and we're next," bleated the hostess.

"She's still doing it. Just stop it. Stop talking. Stop it!" yelled Biff.

"Biff, don't, sweetheart."

"But she won't stop. We can't throw her out, though. We can't even open the doors."

"No one is getting thrown out," the Doctor repeated.

"Yes, we can. Because there's an air pressure seal. Like when you opened the cabin door, you weren't pulled out. You had a couple of seconds, because it takes the pressure wall about six seconds to collapse. Well, six seconds exactly. That's enough time to throw someone out."

"Thanks, Dee Dee. Just what we needed," The Doctor said exasperatedly.

"Would it kill her outside?" asked Val.

"I don't know. But she's got a body now. It would certainly kill the physical form," speculated Dee Dee.

"No one is killing anyone," the Doctor insisted.

"I wouldn't risk the cabin door twice, but we've got that one. All we need to do is grab hold of her and throw her out," supplied the hostess.

"Now, listen, all of you. For all we know that's a brand new life form over there. And if it's come inside to discover us, than what's it found? This little bunch of humans. What do you amount to, murder? Because this is where you decide. You decide who you are. Could you actually murder her? Any of you? Really? Or are you better than that?"

"I'd do it," admitted the hostess.

"So would I," said Biff.

"And me," agreed Val.

"I think we should," decided Dee Dee.

"What?" gaped the Doctor.

"I want her out," Dee Dee stated.

"You can't say that," scolded the Doctor.

"I'm sorry, but you said it yourself, Doctor. She is growing in strength."

"That's not what I said," interrupted the Doctor.

"I want to go home. I'm sorry. I want to be safe," Dee Dee said with finality.

"You'll be safe any minute now. The rescue truck is on its way," the Doctor tried to regain control.

"But what happens then, Doctor? If it takes that thing back to the Leisure Palace, if that thing reaches civilisation. What if it spreads?" the hostess asked him.

"No, because when we get back to the base, I'll be there to contain it."

"You haven't done much so far," scoffed Val.

"You're just standing in the back with the rest of us," agreed Biff.

"She's dangerous. It's my job to see that this vessel is safe, and we should get rid of her," decided the hostess.

"Now, hang on. I think perhaps we're all going a little bit too far," stated Hobbes.

"At last. Thank you," said The Doctor.

"Two people are dead," stated the hostess angrily.

"Don't make it a third. Jethro, what do you say?" asked the Doctor.

"I'm not killing anyone."

"Thank you."

"He's just a boy," opposed Val.

"What, so I don't get a vote?" he asked indignantly.

"There isn't a vote. It's not happening. Ever. If you try to throw her out that door, you'll have to get past me first," the Doctor threatened.

"Okay," stated the hostess.

"Fine by me," agreed Biff.

"Oh, now you're being stupid. Just think about it. Could you actually take hold of someone and throw them out of that door?"

"Calling me a coward?" asked Biff.

"Who put you in charge, anyway?" attacked Val.

"I'm sorry, but you're a Doctor of what, exactly?" inquired Val.

"He wasn't even booked in. The rest of you, tickets in advance. He just turned up out of the blue," The hostess told them.

"Where from?" demanded Val.

"I'm just travelling. We're travellers, that's all."

"Like immigrants?" stabbed Val.

"Who were you talking to? Before you got on board, you were talking to someone. Who was that?" the hostess quizzed him.

"Just Donna. Just my friend."

"And what were you saying to her?"

"He hasn't even told us his name."

"The thing is though, Doctor, you've been loving this," admitted Jethro.

"Oh, Jethro, not you."

"No, but ever since all the trouble started, you've been loving it," Jethro continued.

"So have you!" yelled Jenny. " 'we've broken down in the middle of nowhere, she can repeat any thing, my name's Jethrro, six six six'!" she repeated all that he had said. He fell silent.

"All right, I'm interested. Yes, I can't help it. Because whatever's inside her, it's brand new, and that's fascinating," admitted the Doctor.

"What, you wanted this to happen?" accused Val.

"No!" 

"And you were talking to her, all on your own, before all the trouble. Right at the front, you were talking to that Sky woman, the two of you together. I saw you."

"We all did," agreed Val.

"And you went into the cabin," announced the hostess.

"What were you saying to her?" inquired Biff.

"I was just talking."

"Saying what?"

"You called us humans like you're not one of us," added Jethro.

"He did. That's what he said," followed Val.

"And the wiring. He went into that panel and opened up the wiring," supplied Dee Dee.

"That was after," clarified the Doctor.

"But how did you know what to do?" jabbed Biff.

"Because I'm clever!"

"I see. Well, that makes things clear."

"And what are we, then? Idiots?" demanded Biff

"That's not what I meant."

"Well I reckon you are!" shouted Jenny.

"You two have been looking down on us from the moment we walked in."

"Even if he goes, he's practically volunteered," the hostess tried to justify.

"Oh come on, just listen to yourself, please," scoffed the Doctor.

"Do you mean we throw him out as well?" asked Biff.

"If we have to," decided the hostess.

"Look, just. Right, sorry, yes, hold on, just. I know you're scared, and so am I. Look at me, I am. But we have all got to calm down and cool off and think."

"Perhaps you could tell us your name," asked Hobbes.

"What does it matter?" retorted the Doctor.

"Then tell us," goaded the hostess.

"John Smith."

"Your real name," demanded Hobbes.

"He's lying. Look at his face," said Biff.

"His eyes are the same as hers," invented Val.

"Why won't you tell us?" demanded Hobbes again.

"It's a simple enough question," agreed Dee Dee.

"He's been lying to us right from the start," yelled Val.

"What's your name?" asked the hostess.

"No one's called John Smith. Come off it."

"Now listen to me. Listen to me right now, because you need me, all of you. If we are going to get out of this, then you need me." The Doctor was showing exasperation.

"So you keep saying. You've been repeating yourself more than her." Said Hobbes.

"If anyone's in charge, it should be the Professor. He's the expert," decided Val.

"Mum, stop. Just look."

"You keep out of this, Jethro," ordered Biff.

"Look at her!"

"She's stopped," gasped Dee Dee.

"When did she? No, she hasn't. She's still doing it," the Doctor told them.

"She looks the same to me. No, she's stopped. Look, I'm talking, and she's not," announced Val.

"What about me, is she? Look. Look at that. She's not doing it. She's let me go," Biff sighed in relief.

"Mrs Silvestry? Nor me. Nothing." The hostess checked.

"Sky, what are you doing?" asked The Doctor.

"She's still doing him," broadcasted Dee Dee.

"Doctor, it's you. She's only copying you," said Hobbes.

"Why me? Why are you doing this?" he asked Sky gently

"She won't leave him alone," said Dee Dee.

"Do you see? I said so. She's with him," squawked grabby Val.

"I suggest you stand down Val," Jenny advised politely in a chilling military tone.

"Who do you think you are? Some kind of soldier?" Val demanded.

"That would be me, yes. Now step back before things turn nasty."

"How do you explain it, Doctor, if you're so clever?"

"I don't know. Sky, stop it. I said stop it. Just stop it," The doctor instructed the woman.

"Look at the two of…" Val caught Jenny's eye and fell silent.

"Mrs Silvestry, I'm trying to understand. You've captured my speech. What for? What do you need? You need my voice in particular. The cleverest voice in the room. Why? Because I'm the only one who can help? Oh, I'd love that to be true, but your eyes, they're saying something else. Listen to me. Whatever you want, if it's life, or form, or consciousness, or voice, you don't have to steal it. You can find it without hurting anyone. And I'll help you. That's a promise. So, what do you think?"

"Do we have a deal?" Sky asked, before the word fell from the doctor's lips.

"Do we have a deal?"

"Hold on, did she?" trailed off Dee Dee.

"She spoke first," agreed Jethro.

"She can't have," gasped Val.

"She did," announced Hobbes.

"She spoke first."

"Oh, look at that. I'm ahead of you."

"Oh, look at that. I'm ahead of you," the Doctor's voice was monotone.

"Dad!"

"Did you see? She spoke before he did. Definitely."

"He's copying her."

"Doctor, what's happening?"

"I think it's moved," sky gasped.

"I think it's moved."

"I think it's letting me go!"

"I think it's letting me go."

"What do you mean? Letting you go from what?" Dee Dee asked her.

"But he's repeating now. He's the one doing it. It's him," Biff pointed.

"They're separating," exclaimed Jethro.

"Mrs Silvestry, is that you?" asked the hostess.

"Yes. Yes, it's me."

"Yes. Yes, it's me."

"I'm coming back. Listen."

"I'm coming back. Listen."

"It's me."

"It's me."

"Like it's passed into the Doctor. It's transferred. Whatever it is, it's gone inside him," guessed Jethro confidently.

"No, that's not what happened," disagreed Dee Dee.

"But look at her," said Val.

"Look at me, I can move."

"Look at me."

"I can feel again."

"I can move. I can feel again."

"I'm coming back to life."

"I'm coming back to life."

"And look at him. He can't move."

"And look at him. He can't move."

"Help me."

"Help me."

"Professor?"

"Professor?"

"Get me away from him."

"Get me away from him."

"Please."

"Please."

Hobbes took Sky's hands and helped her up. "Oh, thank you."

"Oh, thank you."

"Dad!" Jenny barged past them, and put her fingers to his temples. A dark shadowy mass assaulted her fragile shield. And words, forced through, _**its still her. **_She sat back as if electric shocked.

"Did It just go into her?" Jethro asked.

"No. It's in him. Do you see? I said it was him all the time," bragged Biff.

"She's free. She's been saved," yelled Val.

"Oh, it was so cold."

"Oh, it was so cold."

"I couldn't breathe."

"I couldn't breathe."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry."

"I must have scared you so much."

"I must have scared you so much."

"No, no, it's all right. I've got you. Ooo, there you are, my love. It's gone. Everything's all right now," soothed Val.

"I wouldn't touch her," advised Dee Dee.

"Don't touch her," Jenny backed her up.

"But it's gone. She's clean. It passed into him," said Biff.

"That's not what happened," said De Dee.

"Thank you for your opinion, Dee, but clearly Mrs Silvestry has been released," bulldozered Hobbes.

"No," contradicted Dee Dee.

"Just leave her alone. She's safe, isn't she? Jethro, it's let her go, hasn't it?" Said Val.

"I think so, yeah. Looks like it. Professor?"

"I'd say, from observation, the Doctor can't move. And when she was possessed, she couldn't move, so…"

"Well, there we are then. Now the only problem we've got is this Doctor," announced Biff.

"Don't you dare," said Jenny coolly.

"It's inside his head."

"It's inside his head."

"It killed the driver."

"It killed the driver."

"And the mechanic."

"And the mechanic."

"And now it wants us."

"And now it wants us."

"I said so," yelled Val.

"He's waited so long."

"He's waited so long."

"In the dark."

"In the dark."

"And the cold."

"And the cold."

"And the diamonds."

"And the diamonds."

"Until you came."

"Until you came."

SKY: Bodies so hot.

"Bodies so hot."

"With blood."

"With blood."

"And pain."

"And pain."

"Stop. Oh, my God, make him stop. Someone make him stop," Val started shrieking.

"But she's saying it." Pointed out Dee Dee.

"And you can shut up," Val snapped.

"But it's not him, it's her. He's just repeating," Dee Dee continued.

"But that's what the thing does, it repeats," said Biff.

"Just let her talk," said the hostess.

"What do you know? Fat lot of good you've been," accused Biff.

"Just let her explain."

"I think. I mean, from what I've seen, it repeats, then it synchronises, then it goes on to the next stage and that's exactly what the Doctor said would happen."

"What, and you're on his side?" prodded Biff.

"No."

"The voice is the thing," said Jethro.

"And she's the voice. She stole it. Look at her. It's not possessing him, it's draining him," Dee Dee pointed out.

"It's become him. It's listened to our fears and is using him as a scape goat so you don't throw her out," added Jenny.

"She's got his voice," The hostess nodded.

"But that's not true, because it can't. Because I saw it pass into him. I saw it with my own eyes," Val said suddenly.

"So did I," Copied Biff.

"You didn't.," accused Dee Dee.

"It went from her, to him. You saw it, didn't you?"

"I don't know," Jethro said uncertainly.

"Oh, don't be stupid, Jethro. Of course you did!" shouted Val.

"I suppose he was right next to her…"

"Everyone saw it. Everyone."

"Enough!" shouted Jenny.

"You didn't. You're just making it up. I know what I saw, and I saw her stealing his voice."

"Thank you Dee Dee."

"They're as bad as him. Someone shut them up.

"I think you should be quiet, Dee."

"Well, I'm only saying –"

"And that's an order! You're making a fool of yourself, pretending you're an expert in mechanics and hydraulics, when I can tell you, you are nothing more than average at best. Now shut up."

"That's how he does it."

"That's how he does it."

"He makes you fight."

"He makes you fight."

"Creeps into your head."

"Creeps into your head."

"And whispers."

"And whispers."

"Listen.

"Listen."

"Just listen."

"Just listen."

"That's him."

"That's him."

"Inside."

"Inside."

"Throw him out."

"Get him out of my head," demanded Val.

"Yeah, we should throw him out."

"Don't just talk about it, just. You're useless. Do something."

"I will. You watch me. I'm going to throw him out," announced Biff.

"Hold it right there! Touch him once and I will make you pay. Do not mistake me for my father!" Jenny stared him down.

"Throw him out."

"Throw him out."

"Get rid of him."

"Get rid of him."

"Now."

"Now."

Biff took hold of the Doctor from behind.

"Don't!" Shrieked Dee Dee.

"You have _three _ seconds to live if you don't let go."

"It'll be you next," spat Val.

"Three."

"I don't think we should do this," said the hostess uneasily.

"Two," Jenny raised her voice.

"It was your idea. Professor, help me." Biff ignored her.

"One…"

"I can't. I'm not –" Hobbes was cut off as the shot rang out. The Doctor's body dropped to the floor with a thump, as Biff skittered backwards with a scream. The other passengers shrieked in shock. There was silence. Everyone looked up at the dent in the metal of the ceiling.

"Unlike my father, I carry one of these. I'm a soldier. Old habits die hard." She popped out the spent ammo clip and reloaded. "Now I have warned you, touch him and die. Yes?" They all mumbled and nodded. All except sky who didn't look threatened at all.

"Cast him out."

"Cast him out."

"Into the sun."

"Into the sun."

"And the night."

"And the night."

"You can stop. No one will play your game release him," Jenny ordered, turning the Gun on the woman.

Sky wasn't listening. The creature did not see the threat in a gun. "Do it."

"Do it."

"Do it now."

"Do it now."

"Hurry!"

"Hurry."

"Somebody."

"Somebody."

"Do something Jenny!" screamed Val. Jenny didn't know what to do. How could she separate them. Would killing sky just set it loose? Was sky even still alive?

"Molto bene."

"Molto bene."

"For Christ sake throw them both out! Biff! Jethro!"

"Quiet!" snapped Jenny, her eyes fixed on sky. She had to hurry. Sky was becoming him.

"Allons-y."

"Allons-y."

"That's his voice," gasped the hostess.

"I know!" cried Jenny.

"The starlight waits."

"The starlight waits."

"She's taken his voice!"

"I don't know what to do," Jenny admitted. What was right and what was easy? Kill sky or spare her?

"The emptiness."

"The emptiness."

"The Midnight sky."

"The Midnight sky."

"It's her," yelled the hostess.

"Someone throw him out," screamed Val.

"She's taken his voice!" The hostess grabbed Sky and rushed her towards the entrance door. She pressed the button and everyone screamed as the bright light flooded in. "One, two, three, four, five, six." The pressure wall collapsed. The hostess and Sky were sucked out and the door closed.

"It's gone. It's gone. It's gone, it's gone, it's gone, it's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone, it's gone, it's gone. It's gone, it's gone, it's gone," Chanted the Doctor.

"I said it was her," said Val.

"That's it bitch!" Jenny raised the gun.

"Jenny, Jenny, Jenny, Jenny, Put the gun down! Let's calm down, very proud of you, don't spoil it now..."

20 minutes later...

Everyone was sitting in silence. "Repeat. Crusader Fifty rescue vehicle coming alongside in three minutes. Door seals set to automatic. Prepare for boarding. Repeat. Prepare for boarding."

"The hostess. What was her name?" the doctor asked the shuttle's occupants.

"I don't know," answered Hobbes.

Donna greeted them with huge hugs.

"What do you think it was?" she asked the Doctor gently.

"No idea."

"Do you think it's still out there?" He said nothing. "Well, you'd better tell them. This lot."

"Yeah. They can build a Leisure Palace somewhere else. Let this planet keep on turning round an Xtonic star, in silence."

"Can't imagine you without a voice," Donna mused.

"Molto bene."

"Molto bene," she repeated Jokily.

"No, don't do that. Don't. Don't."

"No Auntie Donna please don't do that," Jenny begged.

"When did you start carrying a gun again Jen?" the doctor asked her suddenly.

"Since all I had to defend myself against a giant wasp was a stupid shoe."

The Doctor rolled his eyes at her. "Go back to the TARDIS, I'll catch you up."

What do you think? It's a big chapter, I know its bad but there will be some explanations about a certain doctor mouthing blonde in the next one. Please review! x


	14. Chapter 14 Her portrait

I want to start off by having a little rant at , because loads of stuff was meant to be underlined in the last chapter but wasn't. Hope it wasn't too confusing. So onwards…

Jenny and Donna were chatting on the jump seat when the Doctor entered the TARDIS. "All good?" Donna asked him. He nodded, but kept walking. "What's eating him?"

Jenny shrugged and tried to work out the cause of his strange behaviour. Suddenly he burst back into the room holding a sketch book. He wedged himself between them on the jump seat and started flipping through. There were pages of circular Gallifreyan symbols, little sketches of constellations, plants and planets, pages devoted to red grass and orange sky. "Where is that?" Jenny asked in awe, staying his hand to get a better look at the drawing. A red field, imposing mountains and a city in a great glass globe. Two tiny figures appeared to be running in the distance.

"Gallifrey, the mountains of solace and solitude. That's the high citadel," he explained distractedly, before he moved her hand and kept flipping. Jenny and Donna shred a look, he seemed almost frenzied. "Aha!" he yelled. "Jenny, did the woman look like this?" The page showed a beautiful sketch of a woman, with heavy eyeliner and mascara, and a shy smile, her tongue poking from between her teeth. Her blonde hair was slightly tousled, with a hint of brown roots showing at the top, her chin was resting on her arms, and a swell of affection was captured in the slight narrowing of her sparkly hazel eyes. The girls found it uncomfortable to look at, like they were gazing on something private. Like an intimate moment. "Jenny!"

"Y-yes!" Jenny stuttered. "She's cut her hair a bit. And straightened it." The doctor threw his head back and let out a sigh. He wished he could have seen her. He had missed her by seconds. A tiny glimpse to feed the need he felt to see her again.

"Did you draw this Doctor," gasped Donna, finding her voice.

"Not from life, no. A memory. This was the Day I took her to woman wept," he sighed again.

"I've seen her before," said Donna suddenly. "When did I see her? When…?" Donna began to pace. Jenny and the Doctor watched her.

"Powell estate around two thousand and five?" asked the Doctor tiredly.

"No! No it was recent!" she kept muttering and pacing. "Adipose! I saw her after the adipose, before we left!"

"You can't have Donna," he huffed.

"Shut up spaceman! I know what I saw!" Donna scolded him. The Doctor closed his mouth, but he knew it was impossible. Shutting up was the safest option.

"You love her," said Jenny quietly.

"What makes you jump to that conclusion," he retorted skittishly, eyes darting everywhere in the room, except their faces.

"You could draw _that _from memory! It's beautiful."

"She's a beautiful girl and I have a very good memory." He still wouldn't look at them.

"Why can't you just admit it? Are you afraid of being happy?" Jenny asked tentatively.

"What good would admitting anything about her do me? She is gone," he answered evasively.

"What harm could it do you?" pressured Jenny.

"Why does it matter to you?" He stood up jerkily. He looked uncomfortable and awkward. "I'm going to sleep," he suddenly blurted before leaving the room.

"_Sleep_!? He never _sleeps_," gaped Donna.

"He means sulk," corrected Jenny.

"He's probably digging the purple shirt out as we speak," said Donna sadly.

"Let's keep him busy, keep his mind off it," decided Jenny.

"Agreed," Said Donna, "Library, let's look up destinations." They spent the evening bickering over where to go unaware of the effect their prodding had caused.

The Doctor was lying on a soft bed. A bed that had never been made since its occupant had started sleeping in it, or since she had stopped. The doctor couldn't bear the thought of anything in the room being changed. He couldn't bear to wipe the lipstick kisses off the mirror or pick up one dirty hoodie off the floor. She'd always been a slob. The scattered belongings of two years of travel together, littered the room. Mementos and knickknacks and the odd photograph. Those were his favourites, the photographs. Little flashes of that tongue in teeth smile that make his hearts skitter, captured for real, not just in a memory, or a sketch. In a photo he was sure she wasn't just imagined or invented.

The sheets smelled of herbal essences shampoo, cheap perfume, and a warm humany smell unique to Rose. No one smelled like she did. No one would compare to her. He was going to spend his life trying to fill a Rose shaped gap. His breath hitched in his throat. So much for that respiratory bypass system. Burying his face in the soft pillow, he let himself break, his body shaking, and remembering a red tear stained face, and the thing he tried and failed to admit. Summoning her distraught confession to the forefront of his mind, he cried himself into an uneasy sleep.

The dream was strange. Bad wolf bay, she was walking towards him, her face blank, hair ruffled by the wind. He tried to run, but the air felt like quicksand. "Rose!" His voice was stolen by the wind. She was sill walking. She stopped in front of him.

"Can I touch?" she held out her hand. He nodded vigorously, trying to step forward. But then she dropped her hand, looking disappointed.

"No!" he shouted, but no words came.

"I – I love you," she confessed brokenly. "Don't you want me to stay with you forever?"

He nodded again, frantic this time.

"I love you," she repeated. She looked at him expectantly.

He opened his mouth but no sound came. She stood stoically, expecting a response. He couldn't. She sighed and began to step closer. He held out his arms. And she walked through him like a ghost, and kept walking. He whipped around and ran to catch up but the further he travelled the more distance he put between them. In the distance she turned ad held out her arms, mouthing his name. Unreachable, untouchable, unhavable…

"Dad!" He shot upright in the bed. "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaad?" he rubbed his eyes and headed for the door. This was why he hated sleep. He navigated his way through the twisty corridors to find the console room and the source of the yelling. "China!" Jenny cried when he entered the room. "It's on earth and Donna's never been." He could see the worry behind her smile and decided that a trip to china and a big fake smile would make things better. After all, he was always okay.

Sorry it's short. Short but full though. I'm not very well x .Please review


	15. Chapter 15 Not quite China

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. I had my granddad's funeral and I've been kind of neglectful to the story. Anayways, onwards…

"You want to go to Earth China?" he asked them, astonished. "Why Earth China? We can go to anywhere China!"

"How many china's are there?" asked Donna.

"Earth China, the planet China, New China, New New New China, and six hundred and seventeen Chinatowns."

"What happened to New New China?" inquired Jenny, her eyebrows creasing.

"Drugs, pollution, trafficking, not your ideal holiday destination, it was the den of iniquity of the Jagger brocade, went there once, didn't like it."

"What do you mean was?" said Jenny, puzzled.

"Like I said, went there once, didn't like it," he repeated, flashing them a smug grin. "Where's it going to be?"

"The planet!" demanded Donna. "Why not go all out?"

The Doctor set the coordinates and then stepped back from the console. The girls looked at him expectantly. "Well she won't fly herself Jenny! Come on let's see what you've picked up." Jenny bounded over and started flipping switches. The Doctor watched with a critical eye as she danced around. Her style was different, she weighed up her options, thought before she slammed buttons. There was a small jolt as they touched down. '_Well that wasn't very fun!' _he grumbled internally.

"Well I've done my bit!" Jenny crowed, "And my landing was smoother than yours."

"The Student has become the master!" added Donna ominously.

The Doctor winced. "Do you practice Donna or are you just naturally skilled," he muttered.

"I'm going out first" Jenny yelled over her shoulder as she rushed for the door.

"I'm not, I'm avoiding that 'elbow' of yours at all costs," Donna elbowed him in the back, teasing in hushed tones.

The Doctor ignored her. "No you're not Jenny, with that shoddy display of driving, we could be anywhere," he laughed at her retreating figure.

"You set the coordinates, so how, would it be my fault! And I drove her less crashy than you do!" she lectured.

"No you… it was… not that… you drove and…" he spluttered. "Crashy isn't even a real word, tell her Donna!"

"Neither is 'Timey-wimey' you big doof, are we here or not, _Dad_?" Donna prodded him in the chest, emphasising her last word, mockingly.

"Yes, the planet China," he said smugly. Donna charged off after Jenny. He took another look at the readings. Where about on the planet were they? He called up an aerial image of the planet. Well this was wrong! Where were the mountains? Suddenly he recognised the planet. It wasn't China… "Donna!" he charged after them bursting outside the TARDIS doors. Donna and Jenny were backed up against the TARDIS with their hands in the air, surrounded by a group of colourful, angry looking, spear wielding women. They had braided hair, long fingers and toes and incredibly long legs.

"Surrender, male!" The tallest woman growled at him. He slowly raised his hands.

"This isn't China," he muttered out of the Corner of his mouth. "This is Aswion."

"The women may walk, bind the male!" the leader ordered the group who converged on the Doctor.

"Oi! Lady," yelled Donna indignantly as the strange women descended and trussed up the Doctor in rope bonds. "Oi –"

"Donna leave it, they won't hurt me, they just don't respect me or trust me an inch," he explained.

"Why don't you fight back," cried Jenny is disbelief.

"Because he'd get his butt kicked," stated the alpha female. "Follow us." The followed in silence, Jenny and Donna walking behind and two of the tribal women swinging the bound Doctor between them, a huge scowl on his face. Donna sniggered at him and Jenny supressed a raucous giggle behind her hand. He looked like he was in a cocoon.

"Shut it Donna it isn't funny!" he huffed. She laughed harder when he was smacked in the middle as the two women holding him walked different ways around a tree. Jenny started to shake with laughter. His scowl intensified.

They kept walking, the trees becoming taller the deeper they went into the forest, until they came across a large town, its glass and metal structures contrasting against the giant trees. They were lead to a cell and dumped inside it. Jenny began to untie her Dad. "Are you going to tell us what's going on?" she asked him dangerously.

"The TARDIS has brought us here, instead of China. God knows why. Anyway, the women of Aswion have formed a matriarchal society, and they really don't like blokes, we they _do_, but only in a non-platonic sort of way, otherwise men are just the workforce. We are intruders in the sacred forest. Equals cell. Man intruder equals rope sleeping bag, pain and a cell. You're just lucky to be women." The Doctor explained quickly.

"Well why are we here? I wanted to go to China, not the forest of feminism," Donna laughed at him.

"How are we getting out then?" said Jenny brightly. The Doctor shook his head.

"They use handprints on the doors, we have to wait this one out for a while," he sat, rubbing the side that had been knocked on the tree.

"How did you meet Rose?" Jenny asked him.

The Doctor looked at her. What was this sudden interest Jenny held for Rose? He looked at Donna, who met his eyes apologetically. He looked to Jenny, and her hopeful face showed no malice, just a childlike interest. "I was tracking the transmissions of a creature, who was controlling large bodies of plastic, literally bodies, shop window dummies. I was in the basement of this department store, and there was this girl being backed up against a wall by these advancing plastic creatures…" Jenny was biting her nails, eyes wide. "… and they killed her. Squish. The end." Jenny smacked him over the head.

"Stop being an asshat and tell me what happened," it would have been an order, if not for the adorable pout that completely ruined it.

"I took her hand and-"

"-shagged her senseless," finished Donna.

"That's it, if you're gonna ruin it…"

"You ruined it last time!" Donna retorted. "And can you even do that, I mean do time lor-"

"Donna that is none of your business!" he was blushing furiously.

"Well it's mine," smirked Jenny, "I have every right to know whether I can have sex or not. So spill it. It's not like Donna can tell me. Step up chickenshit."

"Yestimelordscanhavesexarewedonewiththisnow?"

"I think the prude lord just gave you the go ahead Jen!" Donna gave her a thumbs up.

"That was by _no _means a go ahead. At all. Ever. And I'm not prude, just private."

"Sorry the story," Donna remembered. They leaned forward expectantly.

"You two! … I took her hand, and I said one word … Run. And we never stopped! Until – well anyway, I took her practically everywhere…" he trailed off, thinking of the glowing expression that inspired her portrait.

"Tell me about one of your adventures!" implored Jenny, resting her head on his shoulder. The Doctor recounted the story of the werewolf and Queen Victoria and Scotland. They laughed at his impression of Rose trying to do a Scottish accent and Donna tutted at him when he mentioned how he had told the guards he had bought her.

There was suddenly the sound of footsteps, slow and graceful, and a woman with hair that shimmered between purple black and blue, like raven's feathers, stopped outside the doors. "I don't have much time, I want your names," her tone was an attempt at athouratitive.

The Doctor chuckled at her. "You see I would have fallen for that, if I hadn't already been in this predicament before. Give me your name and your purpose for wanting ours and I will return the favour."

"Do not try and trick me! You are the prisoner, and you will acquiesce. I know the power of a name male!" she huffed at him. She was going for threatening but they could hear her nervous, impatience. She was clearly not meant to be here.

"Donna can you give us a big long scream, from the bottom of the lungs," he instructed her. Donna took a big breath.

"No, No! I will tell you why I am here and then you will tell me a name and them I will tell you mine and you will tell me the other two names." The woman held out her hand. The Doctor shook her hand. "You were found outside a blue box." She looked at them each meaningfully in turn. "A name if you please."

"This is jenny," The Doctor pushed her forwards, with a reassuring pat on the back. "And your name?"

"Poarilia," she answered, her eyes shifting a little too much.

"Manaya!" called a voice from outside. "Unbaricade this door immediately!" Manaya closed her eyes and huffed in annoyance.

"Manaya! Well you've grown up! Love the hair, you've changed your face I didn't recognise you," The Doctor beamed exuberantly.

"Ever the hypocrite Doctor! Though I must say I prefer this new face," Manaya replied saucily.

"Let us out then?" The Doctor beamed at her.

"No! Prove it's you, I mean really you and not just some hoax answer my questions on that day truthfully and I will set you free." The sounds of the others using a battering ram on the door, punctuated her demand with loud booms.

"There is not enough time," he informed her. She huffed at him and turned away. "Fine come here!" he ordered her exasperatedly. She stepped closer to the bars, and he placed his hands on her temples, sending a flow of memories from their last meeting, running with her from the three stray Daleks, before being locked in a cell like this one. It was almost exactly the same adventure he had had with Rose, except he and _his_ Rose had been separated. Rose…He suddenly found himself involved in a rather passionate kiss. "Whoa whoa whoa, where did that come from?"

"All that affection and possessiveness you were sending me," Manaya winked at him.

"That wasn't for you! That was for… erm… not you," he babbled uncomfortably.

"So you were thinking about someone else when you were kissing me!" Manaya flared up.

"I wasn't kissing you! You kissed me!"

"I think I'm gonna be sick!" groaned Jenny.

"Shut up Jenny, anyway Manaya, held up my side of the bargain, now let us out," he demanded, raising an eyebrow. She huffed and placed her hand to the lock, it buzzed and the door sprung open. "Thank you, now Jenny give me a boost." Jenny pushed him upwards and he pulled the cover off the air vent. He clambered up. "Right now boost Donna, and then I'll pull you up, Manaya are you coming?"

"If I get caught here they'll put me in a cell! Give us a hand." After carefully replacing the grill so their path of escape wasn't obvious, the crawled along the passageway.

"Doctor you said she'd changed her face, I thought it was just you who can do that," said Donna confused. Jenny perked up at this, alert and interested.

"I'm the only one who does it like I do it, regeneration in this way is entirely unique, but the people of Aswion-"

"-Just the female Giapra."

"…just the female Giapra of Aswion, change their faces, and bodies. Happens like a fast version of evolution, come back in two years and she'll look completely different."

"But why?" asked Jenny.

"Oh anonymity is always helpful, but that's not why, the male Giapra's instinct is to… let's say go around the block a few times, so the women change to keep them interested. That's why the women have zero respect for the males, and I had to be carried, trussed up like an Egyptian mummy," the Doctor explained.

"So they change everything to make their man happy?" asked Donna incredulously. "And I thought they were feminist."

"We are!" insisted Manaya. "We don't change for them, we change for us, for the security of a breadwinner and to have two parents for our children," she sniffed at them, "We use our changing looks to trap them. Why do you change your face Doctor?"

"To be young again and prolong my life, unfortunately, unlike you I lose my personality along the way. Here we go, to external wall." He shoved hard and the grill popped of. "I'm such an escape artist."

"No you are not!" Scoffed Donna, "you couldn't get us out of those handcuffs."

"I'm not good at handcuffs, especially when it matters." The Doctor's mood went dark as he recalled the library.

"Oh flippin' hell, what have I said now," groaned Donna.

"It's fine Donna. Come on, to the TARDIS."

"Will I see you again Doctor?" asked Manaya as they took off through the trees.

"You just might!" he shouted back at her.

"I can't believe you were just cool with her kissing you," said Jenny. "I mean, you like someone else."

"Jenny if never saw the person you reckon I like again, do you really think it would be fair for me to have to become a eunuch or something?" he retorted.

"But if you do see her again, then it's like you've cheated! And you will see her again, or you wouldn't be getting any of these clues!"

"Oh he'll try and find her alright, if a loose legend is his reward," panted Donna as they ran.

"Shut up Donna, if I found her my reward would be that smile of hers. I would go anywhere for that smile, all the way to the end of the universe." They burst into the clearing and there was the TARDIS, right where they had parked her. "Quickly inside, before any more nutter's show up, Planet China here we come, second time lucky, I hope."

Did anyone see what I did there? Sorry again for it being so long, please review! x


	16. Chapter 16 Now it hurts you too

Had a bit of criticism for the whole snog thing. And don't worry, he hasn't finished being told off.

This chapter is what The Doctor and rose did during Turn left. Donna's journey up next.

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"I'm driving this time, my minimaniac, or we'll never get to China," The Doctor tried to surreptitiously change the faulty coordinates he had entered. Only a star system out of place, he'd had worse.

"I'm not taking the wrap for this! I see you fiddling with the coordinates," Jenny stood with her arms crossed. "Busted!"

"You know what Jenny you need a mother to argue with! I need a break. There we go, I'm pretty positive that that this is the planet China." The girls exited the doors slowly, slightly more cautios this time, before gasping and taking in the eye assaulting explosion of red banners. "Yup, The planet China." Space ships cluttered the sky and banners and flags dripped off the padooga roofs. They appeared to be in a market place, the streets teaming with people.

"It's lovely," sighed Jenny.

"It is. Known to it's people as Shan Shen. Populated by an original number of a million Chinese colonists." He spotted a stall selling foamy drinks, and handed them both one. "Ooh, you are gonna love this... one two three!" They simultaneously took a drink from the tumblers. The Doctor snorted, foam on his nose. Donna laughed at him.

Jenny looked up with a fluffy foam moustache. "What do you think Auntie Donna? Does it suit me?"

"It's lovely!" Donna snorted.

They continued through the market, weaving in and out of stalls. The Doctor held up this strange spikey looking produce.

"Well you wouldn't want to sit on that," said Jenny dryly.

"Well you learn from your mistakes in life," he grinned. They continued through the crowds.

"That Manaya girl. We left her behind. How can you do that? Leave someone behind like that?"

The Doctor looked thoughtful. "What you have to understand Jenny is that there are hundreds of people out there who have had experiences with me, thousands. And as the situations have usually been life threatening, I seem to stick in their minds. There are also those I have travelled with, before we parted ways, and they went back to their previous lives. No one is permanent. That's why I'm glad to have you Jen."

"And are you proud of yourself. The man who constantly moves on?"

"Well some of them chose to return home, some I left because I couldn't bear to… I couldn't watch them slowly wither," he replied looking at the ground.

"We both know that isn't what I meant. Your woman is out there and here you are, _moving on_." She crossed her arms.

"She isn't my woman. We were never like that, I doubt she felt –"

"She told you she loved you. She hasn't died, she's trying to get back to you, and you're getting flirty with other women. How would she feel?"

"Rose is a special person, she would want me to be happy."

"I'm sure she would want you to move on if she was dead, but she isn't. Does it really make you happy anyway?"

"Jenny I had a wife! Well several over the years… but some of them were accidental, some were to prove a point… but I was exiled from Gallifrey, and she forsook me for it. I have learned to move on because I am miserable on my own. You move on or live with broken hearts. It is important to keep happy, find things to live for, and whatever Donna reckons about me, I _am _a man Jenny. Me and Rose weren't like that, she had a boyfriend when we first started traveling, she doesn't remember either of the two kisses, one of which didn't count because it wasn't her it was Cassandra, and the other was more practical. We aren't, weren't a couple, so how can I be cheating? If we weren't a couple."

"Listen to yourself! You don't even believe what's coming out of your mouth! And sod all this male, physical gratification rubbish. Emotionally, do you feel happy and completed by these women you are using to fill the gaps? Do you feel like a good person, or do you feel like a complete shit? And like you said about killing, it will eat away and infect you until you can't love any more. Do you even love her."

"We weren't a couple."

"That wasn't what I asked!"

"How I feel about my Rose is none of your business! You are a child. What can you possibly know of love? I've seen enough of the Universe to know that love cuts you up. But you have to keep going or you get cut up even worse, talk to me when you understand."

"Your Rose? I thought you said she wasn't your woman. That's rather possessive for a man who reckons you aren't a couple. What would happen if you find her and she's married, or in a relationship, or sleeping around or something? How would you feel?"

"She wouldn't!"

"Well you would! You say I'm a child but you're not setting a very good example for me are you? Sex and love, are they the same thing? Well clearly not! What are my future relationships going to be based on? I don't have two happily married parents, so the only romantic role model I have is you. I get a boyfriend, away for a month traveling with you, so I have a little bit of a fling here and there because it 'makes me happy'!? I think that would make me feel like a… a… a _whore_." She levelled him with a look. "How would you feel if she was wanting to feel _happy _when you weren't there?"

"It's not the same," The Doctor choked out, not meeting her eyes. "She wouldn't! She couldn't possibly…" he trailed off looking broken and very insecure.

"If you want her to be _your _Rose then you are going to have to be _her _Doctor. Because quite frankly, if someone did this to me, I don't think I would take them back. Someone who would leave me doubting whether or not I was loved back, and then shop around because we were separated."

The Doctor was silent. Had he pushed him too far?

"I do."

"What?"

"And she wouldn't. She wouldn't leave me like that."

"Go back a bit. What?"

"She was gonna stay with me forever. She wouldn't _leave_! I'd even give up the life in the TARDIS if domestics was what she wanted. She called me that once. Her Doctor. 'I want you safe my Doctor'. I think I knew then. More importantly I think she knew." The Doctor seemed to be talking to himself and Jenny watched in horror as a convoluted self-torturous confession burst from his lips. "And I hurt her. That's why the TARDIS was so angry with me for a while. I went swanning off to save Reinette and I chose her over Rose. But she wasn't Rose. She had a smug smile and her hair was tidy and she wasn't _Rose_, and I could never have done domestics for her."

"Dad stop, you don't have to do this," Jenny pleaded, his realisation had brought a glint of self-loathing to his eyes.

"Five and a half hours. It must have seemed like forever, she waited. I didn't. I left her thinking awful things. What if she'd wanted to go home then?"

"All these what if's and maybe's aren't good for you, right Donna? Donna?" Jenny looked up. Donna wasn't there.

And then they heard the scream.

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I hate how the doctor never realised what the reinette thing did to Rose

Rose was so nice to her as well!

Even when du pompadour was being a condescending patronising smug bitch. Lets face it, she was a social climbing cheat who was a courtesan. Courtesan equals prostitute.

And people call Rose cheap. Rant over.

Anyways please review! I need feedback. xxx

The next chapter is the real proper turn left.


	17. Chapter 17 Fortune's and flashbacks

I saw no way I could include the doctor and jenny in here, so it's just an extra treat. Turn left unchanged. xxx

….

Donna began to wander off through the crowd

"You want to buy shukina? Or peshmoni, most beautiful peshmoni in all of Shan Shen?" A sales lady waves some fruit in her face.

"Ah, no, thanks." She walked off in the opposite direction from the Doctor. A woman came up to her.

"Tell your fortune, lady... your future predicted, your life foretold."

"Oh, no thanks."

"Don't you want to know... if you're going to be happy?"

"I'm happy right now, thanks," replied Donna evasively.

"You got red hair. The reading's free for red hair."

"Alright then!" Donna laughed and followed her inside the tent. Donna and the fortune teller sat inside her tent, the fortune teller held Donna's hands.

"Oh, you fascinating... ah, no, but you good... I can see... a man. The most remarkable man. How did you meet him?"

"You're supposed to tell me," answered Donna.

"I see the future. Tell me the past... when did your lives cross?"

"It's sort of complicated. I ended up in a spaceship on my wedding day. Long story."

"But what led you to that meeting?"

"All sorts of things. But my job, I suppose... it was on Earth, this planet called Earth, miles away... but I had this job, as a temp - I was a secretary at a place called HC Clements..." Donna's mind seemed to be pulled into a flashback of Donna at HC Clements. Then she was suddenly back in the fortune teller's tent. Donna jolted forwards. "...sorry."

"It's the incense. Just... breathe deep. This job of yours - what choices led you there?"

"There was a choice... six months before... because the Agency offered me this contract with HC Clements..." she was pulled into another flashback. She and her mum were getting into their car. "But there was this other job. My mum knew this man..."

"Jival, he's called. Jival Chowdry. He runs that little photocopy business and he needs a secretary," pushed Sylvia.

"I've. Got. A job!" retorted Donna with fire.

"As a temp! This is permanent, it's twenty thousand a year, Donna."

"HC Clements is in the city. It's nice, it's posh, so, stop it!" ordered Donna.

Donna snapped out of the flashback. "Your life could have gone one way or the other. What made you decide?" inquired the fortune teller.

"I just did..."

"But when was the moment? When did you choose..."

Another flashback. A van drives past Donna's car, standing at the junction.

"It won't take long, just turn right! We'll pop in and see Mr Chowdry, so Suzette can introduce you."

"I'm going left, if you don't like it, get out and walk," shouted Donna, her patience waning.

"If you turn right you'll have a career, not just filling in!"

"You think I'm so useless!" accused Donna.

"Oh, I know why you want a job at HC Clements, lady - because you think you'll meet a man with lots of money and your whole life will change - well let me tell you, sweetheart, city executives don't need temps, except for practice!"

"Yeah. Well, they haven't met me." She turned left. She snapped out of the flashback.

"You turned left. But what if you turned right, what then..." the fortune-teller pushed.

"Let go of my hands." Fear was evident in Donna's voice.

"What if it changes, what if you go right, what if you could still go right..."

"Stop it!" cried Donna, she felt something crawling over her back. "What's that? ...what's on my back? What is it, what... what's on my back?"

"Make the choice again, Donna Noble, and change your mind... turn right."

"I'm turning..." gasped Donna, almost hypnotised.

"Turn right... turn right. Turn right!"

"Well let me tell you, sweetheart - city executives don't need temps, except for practice!"

"Yeah. Suppose you're right." Donna turned right.

In the depth of her flashback the words of the fortune teller drifted into her mind. "Turn right, and never meet that man. Turn right, and change the world!"

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Donna was in a pub. Christmas decorations were everywhere, people dressed up, drinking, happy, singing. Donna moved through the rabble towards a table carrying drinks. "Come on then. Get out the way! Get out the way...!" She put the tray down at the table surrounded by her friends. "Here we are! Feed at the trough!"

"Mooky says let's go to the boardwalk, it's two for the price of one!" enthused Veena.

"Christmas Eve, it'll be heaving!" scoffed Donna.

"Well exactly, get in and grab them!" laughed Mooky. They all laughed with him.

"Hey, that's the second round of drinks you've bought, it was my turn!" scolded Veena.

"I can afford it. Promotion. You are talking to Jival Chowdry's Personal Assistant, I'll have you know, capital P, capital A, £23,000 per annum, merci beaucoup!"

Veena raised her glass. "Here's to Mr Chowdry!"

"Mr Chowdry!" they chorused.

"She gets all the luck!" tutted Mooky.

Donna noticed that one of the girls, Alice, did not join the toast, instead she is staring at her, bemused. "...what's wrong? What is it?" Donna asked her.

"Sorry?" said the girl averting her eyes.

"Did someone spill a drink on me?" demanded Donna.

"Why?" asked the girl.

"Why do you keep looking at my shoulder? What's wrong?"

"I don't know..."

"Oh, don't tell me you're getting all spooky again, it was bad enough when you saw the ghost of Earl Mountbatten at the boat show! What are you looking at? What is it?" scolded Donna.

"It's like... it's like there's something I can't see."

"Now, shut up! All of you, come and see! Just look at the sky! It's a star! It's a Christmas star!" shouted one of the men in the pub.

"...well, come on then!" said Veena. They all rushed outside the pub. A shining star-web was hanging in the air above.

"What the hell is that?"

"Ken Livingstone, that's what! Spending our money on decorations! I mean how much does that cost?" frowned Veena.

"Don't be so stupid - it's flying, it's really flying!" insisted Mooky.

"That's not a star, that's a web. It's heading east. Middle of the city," Donna told them. Bolts of electricity suddenly burst forth from the web. Everyone ran away screaming, save Donna and Alice. But Alice hardly looked at the star - she stared at Donna's back, terrified.

"Thanks! There's a great big webstar thing shooting at people, and you're looking at me!" yelled Donna exasperatedly.

"There is something on your back!" She then ran.

Donna began to run off towards the star. "Donna! Donna, where are you going? You'll get yourself killed! Donna!" yelled Veena, but Mooky pulled her in the opposite direction.

"In the city, a tank fired on the webstar. Other tanks began to shoot at it as well and the star was destroyed, falling to the ground in stringy bits. Donna was running down an alley.

"Everyone, stay back! The Thames has been closed! Return to your homes! Keep away from the river, and that's an order!" shouted a soldier.

Donna walked around a police barrier, where a crowd was pressing, watching something, and being restrained. She walked around to an army jeep, and stood there, hearing a UNIT private speaking to his commander on walkie-talkie. "Trap 1 to Greyhound 15, what is your report? Over."

"From the evidence I'd say he managed to stop the creature. Some sort of red spider. Blew up the base underneath the barrier, flooded the whole thing. Over."

"And where is he now? Over."

"We found a body, sir. Over." A body, covered in a red blanket was being carried into an ambulance on a stretcher.

"Is it him? Over."

"I think so. He just didn't make it out in time."

Donna watched as an arm flopped down out of the blanket, dropping the sonic screwdriver.

"...the Doctor is dead. Must have happened too fast for him to regenerate." The Doctor's body was loaded into the ambulance.

"Escort the ambulance back to UNIT base."

Donna walked away down the street. A distant figure was running towards her.

"What happened, what did they find? I'm sorry, did they find someone?" the girl asked frantically.

"I don't know. A bloke called the Doctor... or something."

"Well, where is he?" she demanded urgently.

"They took him away. He's dead."

The girls's face was shocked, then just empty... sad. She turned away.

"I'm sorry - did you know him? I mean... they didn't say his name. Could be any doctor."

"I came so far."

"It-it could be anyone," Donna tried to reassure her.

She turned back to Donna. "What's your name?"

"Donna. And you?"

"Oh, I was just passing by, I shouldn't even be here. This is... wrong. It's wrong. This is so wrong." She stopped to glance distractedly at Donna's back. "Sorry, what was it? Donna what?"

"Why do you keep looking at my back?"

"I'm not."

"Yes you are. You keep looking behind me. You're doing it now!" She tried to look at her own back. "What is it, what's there? Did someone put something on my back?" But as she looked back, the girl had disappeared. Donna was alone. She never got her name. She pauses, then walked away.

….

Donna was in the office, holding a piece of paper and growling at Mr Chowdry. "You can't sack me, I'm your personal assistant!"

"You don't have to make a scene, just come downstairs and we can have a little talk," The man placated.

"Oh I'll make a scene, all right, right in front of a tribunal and the first thing I'm gonna say is 'wandering hands'!" she yelled back.

"Now, come on Donna, you know what it's been like for the past few months, ever since that Christmas thing! Half my contracts were on the other side of the river and the Thames is still closed off. Look, I can't deliver, I'm losing a fortune!"

"Well, sack one of this lot! Sack Cliff! He just sits there, don't know what he does all day. Sorry, Cliff." She turned back to him. "Actually, I'm not sorry, what do you do all day?" There was a loud bang and a shake. Everyone in the office, except Donna, rushed to the window while Donna opened the piece of paper.

"What the hell? Like an earthquake," gaped Mr Chowdry. They looked out the window to see the Royal Hope Hospital standing tall with dark clouds over it. "It's weird – funny sort of clouds."

Donna seemed unconcerned, well at least at the events outside. He was looking at her letter of dismissal. "Who typed this? I'm your PA - did you get somebody else to type this?!" A woman looked guilty at Donna. "Beatrice?!" Donna shouted.

A few minutes later, the events are on the television, with the headline "Royal Hope Hospital vanishes in upward rain mystery".

"It sounds impossible, but the entire hospital has vanished. The Royal Hope no longer exists. It's not been destroyed, there's no wreckage, it's simply gone. Reports from bystanders say that the rain lifted up around the hospital-" a reporter was saying.

Back in the office where everyone besides Donna was watching the news broadcast on the telly, sitting on the filing cabinet. Donna was packing away things in a box. "Hole punch, having that. Stapler, mine. Toy cactus – you can have that Beatrice, catch." She threw the toy cactus over to Beatrice. "Cliff, I'd leave you the mouse mat but I'm worried you'd cut yourself."

"All right, Donna, have some respect! There's 2,000 people in the hospital – and it vanished," ordered Mr Chowdry.

"Oh I'll show you vanishing. Thanks for nothing! Oh, and you know when that money went missing from the kitty? Anne-Marie. That's all I'm saying." She took a big breath. "Anne-Marie!" she finished with a yell. There was a loud bang and shake once again. "Don't tell me, the hospital's back. Well isn't that wizard!" Donna added sarcastically. She kicked the cabinet shut and left.

…

Back on the television the newsreader was interviewing a man.

"To confirm, the Royal Hope hospital has returned to it's original position, but with only one survivor. The only person left alive is medical student Oliver Morgenstern.

"And there were these creatures... like rhinos, talking rhinos, in, in-in black leather..." burbled the student.

Wilf and Donna were sitting on the couch with coffees, watching the television. Sylvia was over at the table looking over what Donna has bought home from the office.

"Rhinos?" said Donna sceptically.

"Rhinos could be aliens," suggested Wilf.

"Shh!"

"We couldn't breathe, we were running out of air… a colleague of mine gave me the last oxygen tank. Martha, M-Martha Jones… and sh-she died," finished the student.

Sylvia was looking at Donna's supplies from the office. "At least you got a hole punch… and a raffle ticket!"

"Yeah, well they can keep the raffle. I won't take a penny of that man," sniffed Donna indignantly.

"Honestly to you two, there's aliens on the news, they took that hospital all the way to the moon, and you're banging on about raffle tickets!" exclaimed Wilf.

"Don't be daft Gramps, it wasn't the moon. It couldn't be."

"Yes, well I am telling you, it's getting worse, these past few years. It's like all of a sudden, they suddenly know all about us. And, there's keen eyes up there and they're watching us and they're not friendly," Wilf huffed.

Sylvia was examining the stapler. "This stapler says 'Bea'."

"Can't believe how well you're taking it, me getting sacked. Thought you'd hit the roof," remarked Donna.

"I'm just tired, Donna, what with your father and everything." She paused for a deep breath. "To be honest, I've given up on you."

Wilf turned up the telly. "There was this woman who took control, said she-she knew what to do… said she could stop the MRI or something. Sarah Jane her name was, S-Sarah Jane Smith," stuttered the student on TV.

"Sarah Jane Smith was a freelance investigative journalist, formerly of Metropolitan Magazine." They showed pictures of Sarah Jane. "Her body was recovered from the hospital late this afternoon."

"Miss Smith had a son, called Luke..."

"What's for tea?" Donna asked.

"I've got nothing in," sniffed Sylvia.

"I'll get chips. Last of my wages. Fish and chips, yeah?" Nobody responded, Wilf only had eyes for the news and Sylvia was examining the plant Donna bought home from the office.

"... along with his teenage friends Maria Jackson and Clyde Langer. It is feared that they also perished."

…

Donna was walking along the street at night, stepped onto a path and sees a blue flash of light accompanied by an electrical buzz. The same blonde woman jumped out from behind the alley and ran onto the road, where Donna walked over to her. "Blimey! Are you all right? What was that, fireworks or...?"

"I don't know, I was just… walking along, that's weird."

"You're the one. Christmas Eve, I met you in town."

"Donna? Isn't it?"

"What was your name?"

"How're you doing? You're looking good. How's things, what have you been up to?" the blonde girl changed the subject with a nervous breathy laugh.

"You're doing it again," cried Donna.

"What?"

"Looking behind me. People keep on doing that. Looking at my back."

"What sort of people?" the girl asked tentatively.

"People in the street. Strangers. I just catch them sometimes, staring at me. Like they're looking at something. And then I get home, and I look, and there's nothing there." She attempted to look at her back, slapping at it. "See? Look, now I'm doing it!"

"What are you doing for Christmas?"

"What am I what?" asked Donna confused by the constant sudden topic changes.

"Next Christmas, any plans?"

"I don't know, that's ages away. Nothing much I suppose. Why?"

"Just … I think you should get out. You and your family. Don't stay in London, just... leave the city."

"What for?"

"Nice hotel, Christmas break?" suggested the girl.

"Can't afford it."

"Well no, you, you got that raffle ticket."

"How do you know about that?" Donna demanded.

"First prize – luxury weekend break. Use it, Donna Noble."

"Why won't you tell me your name?" Donna gave her a shifty look and the girl glared back in exasperation. "I think you should leave me alone." Donna walked away, and the electric sound from earlier happened again.

….

The Nobles parked in the driveway of the country mansion hotel where Donna won the holiday. Slade's 'Merry Christmas Everybody' could be heard playing on the radio. Footmen appeared once the car pulled up on the driveway.

"Cor, blimey - that's what I call posh!" remarked Wilf. He was wearing two pairs of antlers on his head. "I said you were lucky, didn't I? I always said, my lucky star!"

"For God's sake, don't tell them we won it in a raffle. Be classy." She spotted the antlers. "Dad! Take those things off!"

"No, I shan't! It's Christmas!" he grabbed a bag back from the footman. "Oi, I'll have that one, thank you. It's got my liniment in it."

Donna and Sylvia walked up the drive. "I reckon we deserve this. It's been a hell of a year," Donna told her bracingly.

"Your dad would have loved this," Sylvia reminisced.

"Yeah. He would have." She put her arm around Sylvia and they went inside together.

In the hotel room, Wilf was lying on the sofa, Sylvia was sitting on the double bed with a box of chocolate and Donna was brushing her hair in the bathroom. Someone knocked on the door.

"Oi, Gramps! Get that! That'll be breakfast. We've got croissants!" called Donna.

Groaning, Wilf got up. "Why can't you get it, Lady Muck?"

"It's Christmas Day, I never get up before ten. Only, madam there was up with the dawn chorus, like when she was six years old," criticised Sylvia.

"I'm not wasting a second of this place. How was the sofa?" she asked her granddad.

"Oh, yeah... oh, not so good, really. Ooh. You know, we could have paid for a second room. Oi!" He whistled and pointed at Donna. "Merry Christmas!"

Laughing, Donna pointed back. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas, Dad," Sylvia laughed.

The knocking is repeated, Wilf went to open the door. "Yeah, all right, come in, my darling. Grub's up. Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas, sir!" cried the Spanish maid. She walked in with the breakfast tray, while the newsreader was on the telly.

"We have interrupted your programme to bring you breaking news."

"Have you seen this?" Sylvia gestured to the screen.

Donna wasn't listening. "Cos I thought, nice early breakfast and then we'll go for a walk. People always say at Christmas, "oh, we all went for a walk". I've always wanted to do that. So, walk first, presents later, yeah?"

"Donna, come and see." The news going on in the background was frightening Sylvia.

The maid spotted something on Donna. "Tienes algo en tu espalda."

"What?"

"Donna, look at the telly."

"Tienes algo en tu espalda."

"What does that mean? I don't know what you're saying," Donna yelled back.

"Donna, look at the TV!"

"Tienes algo en tu espalda!" the maid repeated in a terrified voice. Now Donna noticed something too - she tried to see what is on her back, but when she finally could get a good view in the mirror, she couldn't see anything. Panicked, the maid ran out of the room.

"For God's sake, Donna, don't just stand there - come and look!"

"...how this is possible, but this footage is live and genuine. The object is falling on Central London. I repeat, this is not a hoax. A replica of the Titanic is falling out of the sky and it's heading for Buckingham Palace," announced the newsreader. The TV showed the Titanic heading for London. "We're getting this footage from the Guinevere range of satellites."

"Is that... a film or something?" asked Donna sceptically.

"The Royal Air Force has declared an emerg..." The Titanic crashed into Buckingham Palace and the transmission was cut dead. A second later, the hotel itself shook.

Sylvia tried to flip channels. "It's gone dead. All of them."

"No, but the Titanic... well, don't be daft. Is that like a... sequel?" asked Donna.

Wilf looked out of the window and saw something terrible. "Oh... oh, God rest their souls."

…..

Staff and guests gathered in front of the hotel, watching a huge mushroom cloud where London used to be. "I was supposed to be out there selling papers. I should have been there, we all should. We'd be dead."

"That's everyone. Every single person we know. The whole city," said Sylvia sadly.

"Can't be," gasped Donna.

"But it is, it's gone! London's gone!" cried Sylvia.

"If you hadn't won that raffle..." Wilf trailed off, not wanting to imagine the alternative.

Donna turned around and to see the Spanish maid who, despite all that was happening, was only watching her, with eyes full of hatred.

…

Donna, Sylvia and Wilf were in a small, crowded office talking to a housing officer.

"Leeds?! I'm not moving to Leeds!" yelled Donna.

"I'm afraid it's Leeds - or you can wait in the hostel for another three months," sniffed the officer.

"All I want is a washing machine," Sylvia said tiredly.

"What about Glasgow? I heard there were jobs going in Glasgow," suggested Donna.

"You can't pick and choose! We've the whole of Southern England flooded with radiation. Seven million people in need of relocation, and now France has closed its borders. So, it's Leeds - or nothing. Next!" She stamped LEEDS on their papers.

…

Doesn't it just break your heart? 'I came so far'

We're nearly there! Can't wait for the reunion and I've got to write it.

Please review it means everything


	18. Chapter 18 Two Words

The Nobles and many other refugees were driven to Leeds in an army bus, where they waited in the street for instructions from the soldiers.

"The Daniels Family, billetted at number 15. Mr & Mrs Obego, billetted at number 31. Miss Contrane, you're in number 8. The Noble family, billetted at number 29," announced a soldier.

"That's us. Come on, off we go. Oh. All right?" Wilf asked a woman standing in the doorway, who gave them a hostile look.

"Used to be a nice little family, number 29. They missed one mortgage payment, just one - they got booted out. All for you lot," the woman accused digustedly.

"Don't get all chippy with me, Vera Duckworth! Pop your clogs on and go and feed whippets!" fired back Donna.

"Sweetheart, come on. You're not going to make the world any better by shouting at it," placated Wilf.

"I can try," she muttered darkly. They came to a stop at number 29.

"What happens? Do we get keys?" asked Sylvia.

"I don't know, do I?" huffed Wilf.

"Who do we ask? The soldiers?"But then the door opened and a short Italian man came out to welcome them.

"Hey-ey! Is a big house! Room for all! Welcome! In you come!" The man enthused.

"I thought this was our house," said Donna.

"Is many people's house! Is wonderful! In, in, in." Rocco kept chuntering as the Nobles walked into the house. "We've been here for eight weeks already. Had a nice little paper shop in Shepherd's Bush - all gone now! So, upstairs, we have Merchandani family, seven of them. Good family. Good kids. Except that one." He pointed at one of the two boys watching them from the stairs. "You be careful of him. Ah, that's a joking!" He ruffled the boy's hair. "Where's that smile, eh? Rocco Colasanto. I'm here with my wife and her sister and her husband and their kids and their daughter's kids. We've got the front room. My mother, she's got the back room. She's old. You forgive. And this, this is you. This is your palazzo!" He lead the Nobles into the narrow kitchen.

"What d'you mean, this is us?" asked Sylvia.

"You live here!" He told them.

"We're living in the kitchen?" clarified Donna.

"You got camp-beds. You got the cooker, you keep warm, you got the fridge, you keep cool. Is good!" he announced positively.

"What about the bathroom?" inquired Sylvia.

"Nobody lives in the bathroom."

"No, I mean, is there a rota?"

"Is pot-luck! Is fun! I go wake Mamma. She likes new people," He cried jovially before walking away. "Mamma! Is people! Nice people!"

"Oh, well. We'll settle in, won't we? Make do, huh? Bit of wartime spirit, eh?" Wilf said bracingly.

"Yeah, but there isn't a war. There's no fight. It's just... this," Donna said despondently.

"Well, America, they'll save us. It was on the news. They're going to send Great Britain fifty billion quid in financial aid. God bless America!" Wilf attempted some optimism.

….

The Nobles were watching television in the crowded kitchen. On the screen an AMNN newsreader was delivering a report. "America is in crisis, with over sixty million reported dead. Sixty million people have dissolved into fat. And the fat is walking." They showed shots of marching Adipose. "People's fat has come to life and is walking through the streets. And there are spaceships. There are reports of spaceships over every major US city. The fat is flying. It's leaving..."

"Aliens," muttered Wilf.

"Yeah," nodded Donna. They were not even wondering about it anymore. They had accepted.

"...the fat creatures are being raised into the air..."

…..

Donna and Sylvia were lying on their camp beds in the kitchen lit by candles. "Mary McGinty. Do you remember her?" Sylvia asked in a depressed voice.

"Who was she?"

"Worked in the newsagent's on Sunday. Little woman. Black hair."

"Never really spoke to her."

"She'll be dead. Every day, I think of someone else. All dead," continued Sylvia.

"Maybe she went away for Christmas," suggested Donna.

"Maybe."

"I'll go out, tomorrow. I'll walk into town. There's got to be work. Everyone needs secretaries. Soon as I'm earning, we'll get a proper place. Just you wait, Mum," said Donna reassuringly.

"What if it never gets better?" Sylvia asked hopelessly.

"Course it will."

"Even the bees are disappearing. You don't see bumble-bees anymore," she continued despondently.

"They'll sort us out. The emergency government. They'll do something."

"What if they don't?" insisted Sylvia.

"Then... we'll complain.

"Who's going to listen to us? Refugees. We haven't even got a vote. We're just no-one, Donna. We don't exist."

They could hear the Colosanto family singing loudly. "...and I spent all my money on whiskey and beer..."

"I am going to _kill_ that man!" raged Donna. She burst into the sitting room. "Now, listen, Mussolini! I am telling you for the last time, to button it! If I hear one more sea shanty..." As Rocco moved aside, Donna spotted her grandfather sitting in the background, smiling at her shyly.

"I always loved a sing-song!" Donna and Sylvia joined the company, all singing together. "I'm just a poor boy nobody loves me, he's just a poor boy from a poor family, spare him his life from this monstrosity - easy come, easy go, will you let me go? Bismillah! No..." They stopped, hearing guns rattling outside.

"You stay here! Everyone, stay!" ordered Rocco. He went out, followed by the Nobles. They saw soldiers firing at the exhaust pipe of a military Jeep. "Hey! Firing at the car is not so good! You, you crazy or what?"

"It's this ATMOS thing, it won't stop! It's like gas, it's toxic!" yelled the soldier.

"Well, switch it off!" Wilf yelled back.

"I have done, it's still going. It's all the cars. Every single ATMOS car, they've gone mad," the soldier told them.

As Donna looked back at her mother standing in the doorway, the soldier spotted something on her back and pointed his gun at her. "You, lady, turn around! Turn around! Now!"

"Are you crazy, boy?" Yelled Rocco.

"Put the gun down!" ordered Wilf.

"No!" shouted Sylvia.

"I said, turn around! Show me your back!"

"Do what he says! Turn around!" pleaded Sylvia.

"Turn around, now! Show me your back!" Hands held high, Donna turned around - and there was nothing on her back. "Sorry. I thought I saw..."

"Call yourself a soldier? Pointing guns at innocent women? You're a disgrace! In my day, we'd have had you court marshalled!" ranted Wilf.

But Donna didn't care about the soldier anymore - she had noticed the blue flash of light made when that blonde girl appeared from nowhere. She walks away without a word.

"Donna? Where are you going? It's not safe at night! Donna! Donna!" screeched Sylvia.

Donna walked around the corner, the girl was waiting for her there. "Hello."

"Hi," the girl replied, before beginning to walk away. Donna followed.

…

They sat down on a park bench. "It's the ATMOS devices. We're lucky it's not so bad here, Britain hasn't got that much petrol. But all over Europe, China, South Africa... they're getting choked by gas," explained the girl.

"Can anyone stop it?"

"Yeah, they're trying right now, this little band of fighters, on board the Sontaran ship. Any second now..."Just as she said it, the sky went aflame, then it went dark again.

"And that was...?" Donna asked shocked.

"That was the Torchwood team. Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, they gave their lives. And Captain Jack Harkness has transported to the Sontaran home world. There's no-one left."

"You're always wearing the same clothes. Why won't you tell me your name?" Asked Donna tiredly.

"None of this was meant to happen. There was a man. This wonderful man, and he stopped it. The Titanic, the Adipose, the ATMOS, he stopped them all from happening."

"That... Doctor?"

"You knew him," The girl said. It wasn't a question.

"Did I? When?"

"I think you dream about him, sometimes. It's a man in a suit. Tall, thin man, great hair. Some really great hair," she tried and failed too hid a giant grin.

Donna raised an eyebrow before simply asking, "Who are you?"

"I was like you. I used to be you. You've travelled with him, Donna. You've travelled with the Doctor in a different world."

"I never met him, and he's dead," Donna stated.

"He died underneath the Thames on Christmas Eve, but you were meant to be there. He needed someone to stop him, and that was you. You made him leave. You saved his life."

For a moment Donna seemed to remember - a flashback of the Doctor standing in the middle of the destruction, watching the Racnoss drowning.

"Doctor! You can stop now!

The flashback ended, Donna stood up, angry and scared.

"Stop it. I don't know what you're talking about, leave me alone!"

"Something's coming, Donna. Something worse."

"The whole world is stinking. How can anything be worse than this?" Cried Donna in disbelief.

"Trust me. We need the Doctor more than ever. I've - I've been pulled across from a different universe, because every single universe is in danger. It's coming, Donna. It's coming from across the stars and nothing can stop it."

"_What _is?"

"The darkness."

"Well, what do you keep telling ME for? What am I supposed to do? I'm nothing special. I mean, I'm... I'm not, I'm nothing special, I'm a temp. I'm not even that, I'm nothing!" yelled Donna in frustration.

"Donna Noble, you're the most important woman in the whole of creation," she laughed exasperatedly.

"Oh, don't. Just... don't. I'm tired. I'm so... tired."

"I need you to come with me," the girl told her, serious now.

"Yeah. Well. Blonde hair might work on the men, but you ain't shifting me, lady."

"That's more like it," she smiled.

"I've got plenty more," Donna huffed.

"I know you'll come with me. Only when you want to."

"You'll have a long wait, then," Donna informed her.

"Not really, just three weeks. Tell me, does your grandfather still own that telescope?"

"He never lets go of it."

"Three weeks time. But you've got to be certain. Cos, when you come with me, Donna... sorry... so sorry, but... you're gonna die." She faded away in front of Donna's eyes.

….

Rocco was hugging Donna with his usual enthusiasm. "And you! I'm going to miss you most of all, all flame-haired and firey."

"Oh, but why d'you have to go?" laughed Donna.

"It's the new law! England for the English, et cetera. They can't send us home, the oceans are closed! They build labour camps," he told them happily.

"I know, but... labour doing what? There aren't any jobs."

"Sewing! Digging! Is good! Now, stop it before I kiss you too much." He turned to Wilf and saluted. "Wilfred. My capitano."

Wilf saluted too. As they look at each other, it's obvious that they both know what's happening, something that Donna doesn't realise. Then Rocco climbed up to the military van where the rest of his family were sitting.

"It'll be quiet with him gone. Still, we'll have more room," remarked Donna sadly.

Wilf's eyes were red from unshed tears, his voice trembled. "Labour camps. That's what they called them last time."

"What d'you mean?" demanded Donna. On the van, Rocco was hugging his sobbing wife.

"It's happening again," Wilf told her.

"What is?" She walks towards the soldiers. "Excuse me? Excuse me, where are you taking them?" She started running after the van, "Where are you going? Rocco, where are you going? Where are you going? Where are you going?!" The van drove away.

Donna entered the house. Sylvia was sitting there, motionless, depressed. "I asked about jobs, with the army. They said I wasn't qualified." There was no response from Sylvia, she just kept staring into space. "You were right. You said I should have worked harder at school. I suppose I've always been a disappointment."

"Yeah," Sylvia agreed with the same blank expression.

….

Wilf and Donna were sitting outside at night, by his precious telescope. "You know, we'd get a bit of cash if we sold this thing," he told her.

"Don't you dare! I always imagined, your old age... I'd have put a bit of money by. Make you comfy. Never did. I'm just useless."

Wilf looked into the telescope.

"You're supposed to say "no, you're not"," she sighed.

Wilf wasn't listening. "Ah, it must be the alignment."

"What's wrong?"

"Well, I don't know - I mean, it can't be the lens. I was looking at Orion, the constellation of Orion. You take a look. And tell me, what can you see?"

"Where?" Donna asked.

"Well, up there in the sky!

Donna looked into the telescope, then back to the sky. "Well, I can't see anything, it's just... black."

"Well, I mean it's working! The telescope is working."

"Well... maybe it's clouds," suggested Donna.

"There is no clouds!"

"Well, there must be!"

"There is not! It was there. An entire constellation," insisted Wilf. Looking up to the sky, he could see it with the naked eye too - one by one, the stars were disappearing. "Look... look there... They're going out. Oh, my God! Donna! The stars are going out."

Donna didn't seem surprised. She just turned around to see the girl waiting for her. "I'm ready."

…..

Donna and Rose entered to a huge warehouse type building. There was a circle of mirrors in the middle, and in the background there stood the TARDIS, a bunch of wires connecting her to the mirrors and a large computer.

"Loadstone testing now at 15.4. Repeat, 15.4," crackled a loudspeaker.

A UNIT officer saluted the girl. "Ma'am."

"I've told you, don't salute." She went to check the computer.

"Well, if you're not going to tell us your name..." the officer trailed off.

"What, you don't know either?" asked Donna.

"Crossed too many different realities. Trust me, the wrong word in the wrong place can change an entire causal nexus."

"She talks like that. A lot. And you must be Miss Noble," smiled the officer.

"Donna," Donna corrected.

"Captain Erisa Magambo. Thank you for this."

"I don't even know what I'm doing," Donna confessed.

"Is she awake?"

"Seems to be quiet today. Ticking over. Like it's waiting."

Rose looked at Donna, then at the TARDIS. "D'you want to see it?"

"What's a 'police box'?"

"They salvaged it from underneath the Thames. Just go inside," the girl urged.

"What for?"

"Just go in!" She watched, smiling, as Donna entered the TARDIS.

"No. Way!" Mouth open, she got out, walked around the box, back inside to see it was really that big, then she walked back to Rose, shocked.

"What d'you think?" the girl grinned.

"Can I have a coffee?"

…

They were inside the TARDIS, Donna holding her coffee mug.

"Time And Relative Dimension In Space. This room used to shine with light. I think she's dying." She touched the console and the rota rose a bit. "Still trying to help."

"And... and it belonged to the Doctor?"

"He was a Time Lord. Last of his kind."

"But if he was so special, what was he doing with me?" asked Donna incredulously.

"He thought you were brilliant."

"Don't be stupid," huffed Donna.

"But you are! It just took the Doctor to show you that, simply by being with him. He did the same to me. To everyone he touches."

"Were you and him...?"

She didn't answer. Instead, she touched Donna's shoulder gently. "Do you want to see it?"

"No." Rose kept looking at her back. "Go on, then."

….

Now they were standing in the centre of the circle of mirrors. "We don't know how the TARDIS works, but we've managed to scrape off the surface technology. Enough to show you the creature."

"It's a creature?" Donna asked.

"Just stand here."

"Out of the circle, please," instructed Captain Magambo.

"Yes, ma'am," answered the girl. She walked out.

"Can't you stay with me?" asked Donna.

"Ready? And... activate," cried the Captain.

The lights around the circle turned on. Frightened, Donna closed her eyes.

"Open your eyes, Donna."

"Is it there?"

"Yeah, open your eyes, look at it."

"I can't," Donna whimpered.

"It's part of you, Donna. Look." Slowly, Donna opened her eyes to see her back in the mirrors – there was a massive beetle clinging to her. She started to spin around in panic, trying to get a better view. "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay - calm down. Donna? Donna? Donna!" Donna stopped spinning. "Okay."

"What is it?" asked Donna, trying to stay calm.

"We don't know."

"Oh. Thanks," said Donna sarcastically.

"It feeds off time. By - by changing time, by making someone's life take a different turn, like, meetings never made... children never born... a life never loved. But with you, it's..."

"But I never did anything important," Donna contradicted.

"Yeah, you did. One day, that thing made you turn right instead of left."

"When was that?"

"Oh, you wouldn't remember. It was the most ordinary day in the world, but by turning right, you never met the Doctor and the whole world just changed around you."

"Can you get rid of-of it?" demanded Donna.

"No, I can't even touch it. It seems to be in a state of flux."

"What does that mean?" yelled Donna, starting to get fed up.

"I don't know," she laughed. "It's the sort of thing the Doctor would say!"

"You liar! You told me I was special! But it's not me! It's this thing, I'm just a host!"

"No, there's more than that. The readings are strange it's... it's like reality's just bending round you."

"Because of this thing!"

"No, no! We're getting separate readings from you. And they've always been there, since the day you were born."

"This is not relevant to the mission," Captain Magambo shouted.

"I thought it was just the Doctor we needed, but it's the both of you. The Doctor and Donna Noble. Together. To stop the stars from going out. But that' not it either, there is another factor altogether, the three of you."

"Why? What can I do?! Turn it off. Please," Donna begged.

"Captain."

"Power down," ordered Magambo.

The lights turned off and Rose walked to Donna, touching her arm comfortingly.

"It's... it's still there, though. What can I do... to get rid of it?" asked Donna.

"You're gonna travel in time," the girl grinned.

…..

Donna was wearing a strange coat covered in wires. She was listening to the girl who was babbling as she was explaining what to do. "The TARDIS has tracked down the moment of intervention. Monday the 25th, one minute past ten in the morning. Your car was on Little Sutton Street leading to the Ealing Road, but you turned right heading towards Griffin's Parade. You need to turn left. That's the most important thing. You've got to go back, turn left. Have you got that, Donna? One minute past ten, make yourself turn left, heading for the Chiswick Highroad."

"Keep the jacket on at all times - it's insulation against temporal feedback," instructed the Captain. An officer put a kind of watch on Donna's wrist. "This will correspond to local time wherever you land." Captain Magambo handed Donna a cup of water. "This is to combat dehydration."

…..

Donna, Rose, Captain Magambo and several UNIT soldiers walked to the circle of mirrors. "This is where we leave you."

"I don't want to see that thing on my back," Donna warned them.

"No! The mirrors are just incidental. They bounce chronon energy back into the centre which we control and decide the destination," explained the mystery girl.

"It's a time machine," exclaimed Donna incredulously.

"It's a time machine," the girl smiled back.

"If you could?" the captain gestured. Donna walked back to the centre. "Powering up." The lights turned on.

"How d'you know it's gonna work?"

"Hmm? Oh... yeah... we, we don't. We're just... we're just guessing," the girl admitted.

"Yeah. Oh, brilliant!" Donna let out a terrified laugh.

"Just remember, when you get to the junction, change the car's direction by one minute past ten," instructed the girl.

"How do I do that?"

"It's up to you."

"Well, I just have to... run up to myself and... have a good argument," Donna steeled herself.

"I'd like to see that!" she laughed.

"Activate loadstone," yelled Magambo.

"Good luck!"

"I'm ready!"

"One minute past ten."

"Cos I understand, now. You said I was gonna die, but you mean this whole world, it's gonna blink out of existence. But that's not dying. Because a better world takes its place. The Doctor's world. And I'm still alive! That's right, isn't it? I don't die? If I change things, I don't die? That's... that's right, isn't it?" Donna asked, scared, but full of looked at the girl for reassurance, but Donna could see she was wrong.

"I'm sorry."

"But I can't die! I've got a future! With the Doctor - you told me!"

"Activate!" Sparks flew, and Donna was engulfed in white light, then she disappeared.

….

Donna appeared on an ordinary street. She looked around, then threw her arms into the air, laughing in victory. But then, she took a better look at her surroundings. "But... hold on... but this is... I'm not... this is Sutton Court! I'm half a mile away! I'm half a mile away!" she yelled. People were giving her funny looks. She looked at her watch – it was 9:57. "Four minutes? Oh, my God..." She started to run. She kept running, gasping for breath, she checked the watch in despair. "I'm not gonna get there."

Then she suddenly seemed to understand what the girl had meant.

"You're gonna die."

Donna saw a large blue van driving up the road. Donna, watched the van with resignation. "Please..." whisped Donna. This had to be it. She stepped in front of the van, the driver tried to stop but it was too late. A woman screamed in horror. The crash caused the traffic to stop.

Donna opened her eyes blearily to see the girl leaning over her. "Tell him this: two words." She paused. "Bad… Wolf." Donna's eyes closed and her head fell to the side.

…..

The word left seemed to echo in Donna's head. She screamed. The events of the alternate world seemed to rewind, images flashing quickly through her head, then the beetle fell off her back, twitching weakly before it died. The fortune teller was cowering in the corner, terrified.

"What the hell is that?" Demanded Donna.

"You were so strong. What are you? What will you be? What will you be?" The Fortune teller fled.

Sorry its late. Please review. The reunion is up next! Sooooo excited! It broke my heart to call her just 'the girl'

Please leave feedback. x


	19. Chapter 19 Planets in the sky

Prepare for huge changes in plot. And a reunion that will be done properly. One word. ROSE!

…

Jenny and the Doctor rushed into the tent.

"Everything all right?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, God...!" gasped Donna. She flew into his arms.

"What was that for?" The Doctor asked hugging her.

"I don't know!" She was so happy to see him, she hugs him again. "Spaceman have you been crying?"

"No!" he turned away and wiped his eyes suspiciously.

….

The Doctor, Jenny and Donna were sitting in the fortune teller's tent, the Doctor poking the dead beetle with an incense stick. Jenny was experimenting the settings on the sonic.

"Can't remember. It's slipping away. You know, like when you try and think of a dream and it just sort of goes," Donna was explaining.

"Just got lucky, this thing. It's one of the Trickster's brigade. Changes a life in tiny little ways. Most times, the universe just compensates around it, but with you... great big parallel world!" The doctor was assessing the creature.

"Hold on, you said parallel worlds are sealed off," Donna frowned.

"Does that mean they aren't?!" Jenny asked looking exited.

"They are. But you had one created around you." He looked at Donna curiously. "Funny thing is, seems to be happening a lot. To you."

"How d'you mean?"

"Well, The Library and then this..." he contemplated.

"Just... goes with the job. I suppose."

"Sometimes I think there's way too much coincidence around you, Donna. I met you once. Then I met your grandfather. Then I met you again. In the whole wide universe, I met you for a second time. It's like something's binding us together."

"Don't be so daft. I'm nothing special."

"Shut up Auntie Donna."

"Yes, you are, you're brilliant," Smiled the Doctor.

His words seemed to remind Donna of Rose saying the same. 'He thought you were brilliant.'

"She said that."

"Who did?" the Doctor asked her.

"That woman... I can't remember."

"Well, she never existed now," the Doctor dismissed.

"No, but she said... the stars... she said the stars are going out," Donna remembered.

"Yeah, but that world's gone," said the doctor.

"No, but she said it was all worlds. Every world. She said the darkness is coming, even here."

"Who was she?"

"Did you know her Auntie Donna?"

"I don't know."

"What did she look like?"

"She was... blonde."

"What was her name?" the doctor said suspiciously.

"I don't know!"

"Donna, what was her name?" he demanded urgently.

"But she told me... to warn you. She said... Two words."

"What two words? What were they? What did she say?"

""Bad Wolf,"" Donna told him. The Doctor looked down at her in shock. "Well, what does it mean?" she asked.

The Doctor jumped up and ran out without answering her. They rushed after him. As they looked around outside, "Bad Wolf" is written everywhere: on the banners, the posters, even on the TARDIS itself, every piece of text was replaced by those two words. Terrified, the Doctor entered the TARDIS followed by Donna. The interior was lit by red lights and the cloister bell was ringing.

"Doctor, what is it? What's Bad Wolf?" Yelled Donna.

"It's the end of the universe." The TARDIS gave a huge shiver.

"And she's exited!" exclaimed Jenny.

"What?!"

"Listen to her!" Jenny and the doctor closed their eyes to listen to the TARDIS.

_The bad wolf returns …. The valiant child …. child of the TARDIS … we find her…_

"Told you! That isn't fear," Jenny gasped. "What are we waiting for?"

The Doctor landed the TARDIS in an ordinary suburb street. The Doctor burst out, followed by the girls, looking around frantically to find out what's wrong. "It's fine... Everything's fine. Nothing's wrong, all fine!" The doctor sighed in relief. A milk float stopped in the street. "'Scuse me! What day is it?"

"Saturday," The milkman answered.

"Saturday. Good. Good, I like Saturdays," the Doctor nodded distractedly.

"So, I just met Rose Tyler?" asked Donna.

"Yeah."

"But she's locked away in a parallel world," Donna contradicted.

"Exactly. If she can cross from her parallel world to your parallel world, than that means the walls of the universe are breaking down. Which puts everything in danger, everything! But how?!" He dashed back to the TARDIS, Donna after him. Outside, the milk bottles begin to rattle. The milkman looked at Jenny, confused as the earth started to shake. The TARDIS suddenly disappeared.

"No! Dad! Auntie Donna!"

…

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor was fiddling with controls. Donna walked up to the Doctor. "Thing is, Doctor. No matter what's happening, and I'm - I'm sure it's bad, I get that. But... Rose is coming back. Isn't that good?"

Full of worrying thoughts, the Doctor just stared at her for a moment - then his face split into a megawatt grin at the prospect of seeing Rose again. "Yeah!" There was a loud noise and the TARDIS shook violently.

"What the hell was that?!" panted Donna, getting up again.

"That came from outside." He ran to the door and looked out - they were in space, with nothing but several asteroids around. Donna joined him and they both stared the empty space outside, confused.

"But we're in space. How did that happen? What happened to Jenny?" Donna asked him. The Doctor just ran back to the console. "What did you do?"

"We haven't moved, we're fixed," said the Doctor looking at the monitor. "Can't have! No!" In disbelief, he ran back to the door. "The TARDIS was still in the same place. But the Earth had gone. The entire planet. It's gone. Jenny's gone!" They gazed out in total shock.

…

Far across the universe, in earth new York… A broken cable sparked and smoked as the ground shook one last time. Martha was lying on the floor.

"... right now. Confirm all stations still online, can anyone hear me? We got contact with UNIT base..." shouted a man.

Martha lifted up her head. "What was that?"

"...emergency systems are online..." Other soldiers in the UNIT base were also struggling to their feet. The place was turned upside down, scattered papers and broken glass everywhere.

"Was it some sort of earthquake, or... Jalandra, you all right?" asked Martha.

"Yeah, I'm OK," he replied.

"Is anyone hurt? We've lost power, will someone get the lights back on. DaCosta, see to it right now! Suzanne, are you OK?" Martha continued.

Suzanne was looking out of the window and she was totally shocked by the view. "Martha. Look at the sky."

"Why, what is it?"

"Just look at the sky!"

…

In Cardiff. The Torchwood Hub interior was also a mess, Jack struggled to his feet as the ground shook again. "Whoa! What happened? Was it the Rift? Gwen, Ianto, you OK?"

"No broken bones. Slight loss of dignity. No change there then," huffed Ianto.

"The whole city must've felt that... the whole of South Wales!" gasped Gwen.

"I'm gonna take a look outside," Jack told them. He ran out while Ianto and Gwen went to a computer terminal.

Ianto pushed some keys. "Little bit bigger than South Wales..."

…

Ealing, London. Sarah Jane's home was all topsy-turvey too. She got up and ran to check her son. "Luke, are you all right?"

Luke got to his feet. "Felt like some sort of cross-dimensional spatial transference."

Sarah Jane looked at the window and notices that it was dark outside. "But it's night! It wasn't night, it was eight o'clock in the morning... Mr Smith! I need you!" Her supercomputer came alive with a loud fanfare. "Can you just stop giving that fanfare, you just tell me what happened!"

"Sarah Jane, I think you should look outside. I think you'll find the visual evidence most conclusive," Mr Smith replied.

….

Chiswick, London. Armed with a baseball bat, Wilf walked to the street, Sylvia in tow. "It's gone dark! It's them aliens, I'll bet my pension! What d'you want this time, you green swine?!" yelled Wilf, looking around.

"Dad..." interrupted Sylvia looking to the sky.

"Look, you get back inside, Sylvia. They always want the women!"

"No, Dad, just look. Oh, my God. Look at the sky!" Wilf took her hand as they looked at the sky in horror.

…..

Luke and Sarah Jane were shocked by the sky too. "That's impossible..."

…..

The same shock is on Jack's face. "That's just impossible..."

…

Martha and the rest of UNIT were looking out of the window with the same shocked expression. "It can't be..." Martha gasped.

…..

The milkman was watching the sky in total shock, too. Then he heard a strange noise and turned around to see Rose appear in the middle of the street, like from a teleport, toting an enormous gun.

"Right, now we're in trouble..." she cocked the gun, "It's only just beginning," she said. The sky was dark and filled with planets, impossibly close to the Earth.

"Rose!"

Rose whipped around, gun in hand. "How do you know my name?"

"You know the Doctor, and so do I. He was here, just here, but the TARDIS left without me when the earth shook."

"He was here? Who are you?" Rose lowered her gun.

"I'm Jenny, I travel with him and Donna. I've heard lots about you." Jenny smiled at her.

"Will he come back for you?" Rose asked her, speculatively.

"Oh yes! He won't leave me behind."

"I thought that once too," Rose looked pensive for a second. "Stick with me Jenny, we'll find him."

…

"But if the Earth's been moved, they've lost the sun! What about my Mum? And Grandad? They're dead, aren't they? Are they dead?"

"I don't know, Donna, I just don't know, I'm sorry, I don't know..." the Doctor answered, looking at a monitor.

"That's my family. My whole world."

"There's no readings. Nothing. Not a trace. Not even a whisper. Oh, that is fearsome technology!"

"How can you be so cold? Jenny is out there! What do we do?"

"We've got to get help."

"From where?"

"Donna... I'm taking you to the Shadow Proclamation. Hold tight!"

…..

On the television an AMNN newsreader was reporting, "The United Nations has issued an edict, asking the citizens of the world not to panic. So far, there has been no explanation of the 26 planets which have appeared in the sky..." The TV was switched to another channel.

"...but it's an empirical fact! The planets didn't come to us, we came to them! Just look at the stars. We're in a completely different region of space, we've travelled," lectured Richard Dawkins. Switch to yet another channel.

The Paul O'Grady show was on. "D'you know what, I look up, and there's all these moons and things! Have you seen them? Did you see them?" There was a cheer from the audience. "I thought, what was I drinking last night? Furniture polish?" Ianto burst out laughing.

Jack, who was working on his own computer, looked over at him disapprovingly. "Ianto. Time and a place."

"He is funny, though," Ianto laughed.

"Gwen, come and see!"

Gwen walked over to hin, still on the phone. "Rhys, I have no idea, just stay indoors. And can you phone my mother, tell her, um, oh I dunno, just tell her to take her pills and go to sleep. I'm gonna come home as soon as I can, I promise. I love you, you big idiot." She hung up.

"Someone's established an artificial atmospheric shell. Keeping the air and holding in the heat," Jack informed them.

"Whoever's done this, wants the human race alive. That's a plus." Ianto remarked. "27 planets, including the Earth."

On the monitor, they could see the all planets, then a big, blinking, red dot appeared in the middle. "No, but what's that? That's not a planet..." said Gwen.

…

A similar picture was displayed on Sarah Jane's computer. "The reading seems to be artificial in construction," announce Mr Smith.

"Some sort of space station. Sitting at the heart of the web," She whispered.

Luke appeared with his mobile in hand. "They're fine. Maria and her dad, they're still in Cornwall. I told them to stay indoors. And Clyde's all right, he's with his mum."

"Sarah Jane, I have detected movement. Observe." Now, there were many small red dots on the screen.

"Spaceships!" grinned Luke in excitement.

…..

"Tracking 200 objects. Earthbound trajectory! Geneva is calling a Code Red. Everyone to battle positions!" shouted a General. He looked at Martha who was trying to make a call on her mobile. "Dr Jones, if you're not too busy."

"I'm trying to phone the Doctor, sir."

"And?"

"There's no signal! This number calls anywhere in the universe, it never breaks down. They must be blocking it. Whoever 'they' are." They both looked at the screen, displaying the same picture as the one seen in the Hub and at Sarah Jane's.

"We're about to find out. They're coming into orbit."

….

The streets were chaotic, alarms were wailing, people were running around, screaming in fear or with drunken delight. Rose walked through the anarchy, Jenny in tow, looking sad but determined.

"The end of the world, darlin'! End of the stinkin' world!" a drunk man yelled at her.

"Have one on me, mate!" She walked into an electronics store that two young men were just about to loot. "Right, you two! You can put that stuff down, or run for your lives." She cocks her huge gun. "D'you like my gun?" The men ran away terrified.

"You too huh?" Jenny flashed her much smaller gun. "He hates it but I feel much safer."

Rose nodded and sat down at a screen that showed the same picture : the 27 planets, and the spaceships moving towards the Earth.

….

Sylvia was watching the news on telly. "We're now getting confirmed reports of spaceships. The Pentagon has issued an emergency report..."

"Dad? Come and see!"

"...and now heading towards Earth in a regular pattern..."

"They're saying spaceships!" She told him. Wilf has been trying to phone Donna. "Did you find her?"

"No, no, there's no reply. Where are you, Donna? Where are you, sweetheart?"

…..

"3,000 miles and closing... But who are they?!" cried Gwen.

Jack's mobile rang. "Martha Jones! Voice of a nightingale! Tell me you put something in my drink."

"No such luck, have you heard from the Doctor?" she replied.

"Not a word. Where are you?"

"New York."

"Oh, nice for some," he teased.

"I've been promoted. Medical Director on Project Indigo."

"Did you get that thing working?"

"Indigo's top secret, no-one's supposed to know about it," Martha frowned.

"I met a soldier in a bar, long story."

"When was that?" scowled Ianto Jealously.

"Strictly professional!"

"1,500 miles, boys, and accelerating. They're almost here," Gwen informed them.

…

"I'm receiving a communication from the earthbound ships. They have a message for the human race," said Mr Smith.

"Put it through, let's hear it," cried Sarah Jane.

"Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!"

…

The same message was played in the Hub.

"Exterminate!"

…

"The message reached the UNIT base too, Martha heard it and her eyes widened in fear.

"Exterminate! Exterminate!"

…

"Exterminate!"

"No..." gasped Jack.

"Exterminate! Exterminate!"

"Oh, no."

"What is it? Who are they? D'you know them Jack?" asked Gwen. Jack put his arms around Ianto and Gwen and kissed them both on the foreheads.

….

Sarah Jane listened the message, her eyes full of tears.

"Exterminate, exterminate, exterminate, exterminate..."

"No..."

…

Jack was holding Gwen and Ianto tight. "There's nothing I can do. I'm sorry. We're dead."

…

"Exterminate..."

"Oh god, you're so young," Sarah Jane sobbed to luke.

…..

In the store, Rose was listening to the message too, not surprised, but fearful.

"Exterminate, exterminate..."

She went out of the shop and looked up to the sky. A Dalek spaceship was flying over the city, shooting at the streets. She walked away with an air of determination. A missile explodes behind her but she didn't even look back.

"What are they," cried Jenny, following after her.

"How do you know the Doctor but you don't know the Daleks?" Rose shook her head.

"The what? Daleks?"

"I'll look after you Jenny, but we've got to find him, there's not much I can do."

….

What do you think? Please give me feedback!

I love having Jenny as the naïve one, it makes the fact that Rose is her father's one and only less weird.

Review to make me happy. Next chapter up asap!


	20. Chapter 20 Like a lovesick puppy

I smell a reunion! This is it, big chapter guys.

…

The TARDIS was shaking violently as it is heading towards the Shadow Proclamation.

"So go on then, what is the Shadow Proclamation anyway?"

"Posh name for police. Outer space police. Here we go!" The Doctor landed them.

The TARDIS materialised inside a building. As the Doctor and Donna stepped out, they were greeted by several Judoon pointing guns at them.

"Sco bo tro no flo jo ko fo. To to!" Chanted the lead Judoon.

"No bo ho sho ko ro to so. Bo-ko-do-zo-go-bo-fo-po-jo!" Answered The Doctor. The Judoon lowered their guns. "Mo ho."

...

"Time Lords are the stuff of legend. They belong in the myths and whispers of the Higher Species. You cannot possibly exist," Insisted the Shadow architect.

"Yeah, more to the point, I've got a missing planet!" interrupted the Doctor.

"Then you're not as wise as the stories would say. The picture is far bigger than you imagine. The whole universe is in outrage, Doctor. 24 worlds have been taken from the sky."

"How many?! Which ones?! Show me!" He ran to a computer.

"Locations range far and wide. But all disappeared at the exact same moment. Leaving no trace."

The Doctor browsed through the files on the lost planets. "Callufrax Minorr. Jahoo. Shallacatop. Woman Wept... Clom! Clom's gone! Who'd want Clom?!"

"All different sizes, some populated, some not. But all unconnected."

"What about Pyrovillia?" asked Donna.

"Who is the female?" sniffed The shadow architect condecedningly.

"Donna! I'm a human being. Maybe not the stuff of legend but every bit as important as Time Lords, thank you." The Doctor watched her with a proud smile. "Way back when we were in Pompeii, Lucius said Pyrovillia had gone missing."

"Pyrovillia is cold case. Not relevant!" said a Judoon."

"How d'you mean, cold case?" Said Donna.

"The planet Pyrovillia cannot be part of this, it disappeared over 2,000 years ago."

"Yes, yes, hang on... But there's the Adipose breeding planet too, Miss Foster said that was lost, but that must've been a long time ago," speculated Donna.

"That's it! Donna, brilliant! Planets are being taken out of time as well as space... Let's put this into 3-D..." he fiddled with the computer and holograms of the lost planets appeared in the air. "Now, if we add Pyrovillia... And Adipose 3... Something missing. Where else, where else, where else, where else... lost, lost, lost, lost... Oh! The Lost Moon of Poosh!" As he added the last one, the holograms suddenly moved and rearranged themselves.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing. The planets rearranged themselves into the optimum pattern. Oh, look at that! 27 planets in perfect balance. Come on, that is gorgeous!" He gazed around.

"Oi, don't get all spaceman, what does it mean?"

"All those worlds fit together like pieces of an engine. It's like a powerhouse! What for?" He wondered aloud.

"Who could design such a thing?" asked the shadow Architect.

"Someone tried to move the Earth once before. Long time ago... can't be..." The Doctor said to himself.

…..

Daleks were attacking the Valiant aircraft carrier.

"Maximum extermination!"

"The shields are down! There's so many of them, abandon ship!" ordered the Captain.

….

In the Hub, the Torchwood team was following the events.

"The Valiant's down..." sighed Jack.

"Air force retreating over North Africa! Daleks landing in Japan," Ianto informed them.

"We've lost contact with the Prime Minister's plane... Jack! Manhattan!" yelled Gwen.

"Martha, get out of there!" cried Jack, still on the phone.

…

Martha was bandaging a wounded soldier. "I can't Jack, I've got a job to do."

"They're targeting military bases and you're next on the list!"

"Dr Jones, you will come with me. Project Indigo is being activated. Quick march!" ordered the UNIT general. They walked through an empty corridor, followed by a UNIT private.

2But we can't use Project Indigo, it hasn't been tested, sir, we don't even know if it works!"

…..

The Daleks have broken into the UNIT base. "UNIT forces will be exterminated."

"Annihilate UNIT!"

The UNIT soldiers fired at the Daleks but their guns were no use against them.

"Exterminate!"

…

The private opened a vault. Inside, there was a device, a computer built into a backpack.

"Put it on. Fast as you can!"

"Martha, I'm telling you, don't use Project Indigo, it's not safe!" shouted Jack.

"You take your orders from UNIT, Dr Jones, not from Torchwood."

"But why me?"

"You're our only hope of finding the Doctor. But failing that, if no help is coming, then with the power invested in me by the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, I authorise you to take this - the Osterhagen Key." He gave her something that looked like a microchip in a plastic case.

"I can't take that, sir."

"You know what to do. For the sake of the human race," the General emphasised pleadingly. Reluctantly, she took the Key. An explosion shook the building.

"Daleks one five reaching north corridor."

"Exterminate!"

The General saluted. "Dr Jones... good luck."

"Exterminate, exterminate, exterminate..."

He and the private faced the Daleks to buy time for Martha.

"Bye, Jack."

"Martha, don't do it!"

She pulled the cords on the backpack and disappeared.

…

"Don't!" Jack kicked his desk in frustration and despair.

"What's Project Indigo?" asked Ianto.

"Experimental teleport. Salvaged from the Sontarans. But they haven't got coordinates, or stabilisation."

"So where is she?" asked Gwen.

"Scattered into atoms. Martha's down," Jack announce gravely.

…..

At the Shadow Proclamation, the Doctor and the Shadow Architect were beside the computer but they came to a dead end. Donna sat on a staircase, face on her hand, bored as she watched the Doctor and the Shadow architect techno-babbling.

"You need sustenance. Take the water, it purifies," offered an albino servant.

"Thanks."

"There was something on your back."

"How d'you know that?"

"You are something new. Something important."

"Not me. I'm just a temp. Shorthand, filing, 100 words per minute, fat lot of good that is now. I'm no use to anyone."

"I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Yeah. My whole planet's gone."

"And the loss of the one who calls you Auntie. Find the child of time, find the child of the vortex, and find the child of the TARDIS." The servant hurried away, leaving Donna confused and scared.

The Doctor walked up to her. "Donna! Come on, think - Earth! There must've been some sort of warning. Was there anything happening back in your day, like, electrical storms, freak weather, patterns in the sky?"

"Well, how should I know? Um... no, I don't think so, no."

"Oh, OK, never mind."

"Although... there were the bees disappearing," she added in an offhand voice.

"The bees disappearing... The bees disappearing," he stopped realising something. "The bees, disappearing!" He ran back to the computer.

"How is that significant?" asked the Shadow architect. Donna followed the Doctor to the computer.

"On Earth we have these insects. Some people said it was pollution, or mobile phone signals."

"Or - they were going back home!" added the Doctor.

"Back home where?" asked Donna.

"Planet Melissa Majoria!"

"Are you saying bees are aliens?!" gaped Donna

"Don't be so daft. Not all of them. But if the migrant bees felt something coming, some sort of danger, and escaped... Tandocca!"

"The Tandocca Scale!" gasped the Shadow architect.

"Tandocca Scale is the series of wavelengths used as a carrier signals by migrant bees. Infinitely small, no wonder we didn't see it! Like looking for a speck of cinnamon in the Sahara, but look! There it is. The Tandocca trail. The transmat that moved the planets was using the same wavelength, we can follow the path!" the doctor babbled.

"And find the Earth?! Well, stop talking and do it!" Donna shouted, running towards the TARDIS.

"I am!" he yelled running after her. He burst into the TARDIS and fiddled with the controls. "We're a bit late, the signal's scattered. But it's a start!" He ran back to the door to, to talk to the Shadow Architect, who was waiting outside. "I've got a blip! It's just a blip! But it's definitely a blip!"

"Then according to the Strictures of the Shadow Proclamation, I will have to seize your transport and your technology."

"Oh, really, what for?" he asked taken aback.

"The planets were stolen with hostile intent. We are declaring war, Doctor. Right across the universe. And you will lead us into battle!" she declared.

"Right, yes, course I will. I'll just go and... get you the key..." He closed the door and ran back to the console, grinning at Donna. He pulled a lever and the TARDIS started to dematerialise.

"Doctor! Come back! By the Holy Writ of the Shadow Proclamation, I order you to stop!"

…..

"All humans will leave their homes." The humans came out from their houses with their hands behind their head in surrender. "The males, the females, the descendants. You will come with us. Resistance is useless."

"Where are you taking us?" asked a terrified man.

"Daleks do not answer human questions. Stand in line." The Dalek moved to reveal Wilf and Sylvia peering with terror from around the side of a house.

"Dad, please, come home, they're leaving our street alone."

"Yeah, I've got a weapon."

"It's a paint-gun," she emphasised disbelievingly.

"Exactly. Them Dalek things, they've only got one eye. A good splodge of paint, they'd be blinded!"

"We're not going. D'you hear me?" the scared man yelled at the dalek. He turned to his wife. "Laura, get back inside the house. Simon, get inside. Go!" His wife and little boy hurried back into their house. The man picked up a brick and lobbed it at the Dalek. "Get back in the sky!" The brick bounced off the Dalek, causing no damage. "Get back where you came from and leave us alone!" He ran into the house.

"Dalek attack formation seven." Three Daleks lined up on the walkway outside the man's house. "Maximum extermination!" The three Daleks each shot a different window of the house, and the whole building went up in flames.

"They're monsters," Wilf shook his head.

"Please, Dad, come home."With a small yelp, Wilf allowed her to pull him away. They hurried around the back of the houses, but they were stopped by a lone Dalek.

"Halt! You will come with me."

"Will I 'eck!" He aimed the paint-gun at the Dalek and fired, a splodge of yellow paint landed on the eyepiece. For a moment, it looked like it had worked - but then the paint boiled away.

"My vision is NOT impaired."

"I warned you, Dad!"

"Hostility will not be tolerated! Exterminate! Exterminate! Exter-" Suddenly, the whole top half of the Dalek was blown off. Rose stood behind it with her massive gun.

"D'you wanna swap?" Wilf asked sheepishly.

"You're Donna Noble's family, right?" Wilf nodded. "I'm Rose Tyler, and I need you."

"You're Donna's family! She's always talking about you Wilf," Jenny saluted him.

"You travel with the Doctor but you carry a gun and salute," Rose shook her head like she had done earlier. "Let's get undercover."

….

Inside the Noble's house, Wilf was talking with Rose and Jenny, while Sylvia is making tea in the background. "Yeah, I've tried calling her, but I can't get through! But she's still with the Doctor, I know that much and the last time she phoned, it-it was from a planet called Midnight, made of diamonds!"

"Nasty trip," Jenny shuddered.

"What the hell are you on about?" scoffed Sylvia.

"Look, she's out there, sweetheart. Your daughter. She's travelling the stars, with that Doctor, she always has been!"

"Don't be ridiculous."

"She _is_!" insisted Jenny.

"Oh come on, open your eyes! Look at the sky! Look at - look at the Daleks! You can't start denying things now!"

"You're my last hope. If we can't find Donna, can't find the Doctor..." she paused tiredly before exclaiming frustrated, "Where is he?!"

…..

The rota rose and fell as the TARDIS was in flight. Then it stopped suddenly.

"It's stopped."

"What d'you mean? Is that good or bad? Where are we?"

"The Medusa Cascade. I came here when I was just a kid. 90 years old. It was the centre of a rift in time and space..." the Doctor told her, staring at the screen.

"So, where are the 27 planets?"

"Nowhere. The Tandocca Trail stops dead. End of the line."

"So what do we do? Doctor? What do we do?"

But the Doctor just stared into space, defeated.

"Now don't do this to me. No, don't, don't do this to me. Not now. Tell me, what are we going do? You never give up. Please." Donna started to cry quietly. But she got no response.

….

The Torchwood team listened to a transmission in the Hub.

"This is the Commander General of the United Nations calling the Dalek Fleet. We surrender, repeat, we surrender. Planet Earth surrenders."

"Humans selected for testing will follow Dalek instructions..."

…..

Sarah Jane and Luke, hugged each other for comfort, as the transmission crackled.

"The Daleks reign supreme. All hail the Daleks."

…

Wilf was holding his sobbing daughter in his arms. Rose sits in the background, looking like she lost all hope too. Jenny was pacing ringing her hands.

"Have _you_ tried calling him?" asked Rose.

"No phone," Jenny shrugged, her tone depressed.

"Are you human? I mean you're not normal. Where are you from?"

"From Messaline, and No I'm not –"

She was interrupted by a voice from the computer. "Can anyone hear me? The Subwave Network is open. You should be able to hear my voice... Is there anyone there?"

"I know that voice," whispered Rose.

…..

Sarah Jane and Luke could also hear the woman.

"Who's that?" asked Luke.

"Some poor soul calling for help."

"...can anyone hear me?"

"There's nothing we can do," sighed Sarah.

"But look at Mr Smith!"

"Processing incoming sound wave." The screen was all white noise but slowly the outlines of a figure started to appear.

…..

"This message is of the utmost importance. We haven't much time... Can anyone hear me?"

Gwen walked to the terminal. "Someone's trying to get in touch."

"The whole world's crying out. Just leave it," huffed Jack.

"Captain Jack Harkness, shame on you! Now stand to attention, sir!" ordered the voice.

"What?!" He ran to the terminal. "Who is that?"

Finally, the image cleared and showed Harriet Jones in her home, flashing her ID card. "Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister."

"Yeah, I know who you are," said Jack.

…

"Harriet! It's me, it's me. Oh, she can't hear me... Have you got a webcam?" asked Rose urgently.

"No, she wouldn't let me, she said they're naughty," Wilf gestured to Sylvia.

"I can't speak to her then, can I?"

…..

"Sarah Jane Smith, 13 Bannerman Road...are you there?"

"Yeah. Yeah I'm here! Yeah, that's me!"

"Good..."

…

"Now, let's see if we can talk to each other." Harriet pushed some keys and the screen was divided to four parts, Harriet, the Hub and Sarah Jane appearing on one part each, while there was just white noise on the fourth place. "The fourth contact seems to be having some trouble getting through."

"That's me! Harriet! That's me!" Rose shouted, unheard by the others.

"I'll just boost the signal..."

Martha appeared on the screen. "Hello?"

"Martha Jones!" Jack laughed in relief when he saw her appear on the screen.

"Who's she? I want to get through!" huffed rose at the unresponsive screen.

"She travelled with us," supplied Jenny. "She fancies the Doctor. It feels weird calling him the Doctor."

"Martha, where are you?!" asked Jack.

"I guess Project Indigo was more clever than we thought. One second I was in Manhattan... Next second... Maybe Indigo tapped into my mind. Cos I ended up in the one place that I wanted to be."

….

Martha and her mum were sitting in front of the laptop. "You came home... At the end of the world, you came back to me," said Francine.

"But then all of a sudden, it's like the laptop turned itself on."

"It did. That was me." She flashes her ID again. "Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister."

"Yes, I know who you are."

"I thought it was about time we all met. Given the current crisis. Torchwood, this is Sarah Jane Smith."

"I've been following your work. Nice job with the Slitheen," Jack told her.

"Yeah, well I've been staying away from you lot. Too many guns!" She looked at Luke protectively.

"All the same, might I say, looking good, ma'am," he flirted.

"Really? Oh," said Sarah, flattered.

"Not now, Captain. And Martha Jones, former companion to the Doctor."

"Oi! So was I!" Huffed Rose. She seemed rather affected that Martha was keen on the Doctor.

"They think you're dead," supplied Jenny with a grimace.

"But how did you find me?" asked Martha.

"This, ladies and gentlemen, this is the Subwave Network. A sentient piece of software, programmed to seek out anyone and everyone who can help to contact the Doctor."

"What if the Daleks can hear us?" said Martha.

"No, that's the beauty of the Subwave, it's undetectable."

"A-and you invented it?" Sarah was impressed.

"I developed it. It was created by the Mr Copper Foundation."

"Yeah, but what we need right now is a weapon. Martha, back there at UNIT, what - what did they give you, what was that key thing?" interrupted Jack.

"The Osterhagen Key."

"That key is not to be used, Dr Jones. Not under any circumstances!" ordered Harriet.

"But what is an Osterhagen Key?" pushed Jack.

"Forget about the key and that's an order! All we need is the Doctor."

"Oh excuse me, Harriet, but, well the thing is, if you're looking for the Doctor... didn't he depose you?" inquired Sarah tentatively.

"He did. And I've wondered about that for a long time. Whether I was wrong, but I stand by my actions, to this day. Because I knew, I knew that one day, the Earth would be in danger, and the Doctor would fail to appear. I told him so myself. And he didn't listen."

"But I've been trying to find him. The Doctor's got my phone on the TARDIS, but I can't get through," Martha told them.

"Nor me, and I was here first!" Rose was getting annoyed.

"He didn't fancy her though. She's really nice, but a bit desperate," Jenny sighed.

"That's why we need the Subwave. To bring us all together, combine forces. The Doctor's secret army," announced Harriet.

"Wait a minute... we boost the signal! That's it! We transmit that telephone number through Torchwood itself, using all the power of the Rift..." suggested Jack.

"And we've got Mr Smith! He can link up with every telephone exchange on the Earth. He can get the whole world to call the same number, all at the same time! Billions of phones, calling out, all at once!" added Luke.

"Haha, brilliant! Who's the kid?" asked Jack

"That's my son!"

Ianto stepped in front of the screen. "Excuse me, sorry, sorry, hello, Ianto Jones. Um, if we start transmitting, then this Subwave Network is going to become visible. I mean, to the Daleks."

"Yes, and they'll trace it back to me. But my life doesn't matter. Not if it saves the Earth," answered Harriet gravely.

"Ma'am." Jack saluted.

"Thank you, Captain. But there are people out there dying, on the streets."

"Marvellous woman. I voted for her," Wilf told Sylvia.

"You did not!"

"Now enough of words. Let's begin!" ordered Harriet. Everyone started to work frantically.

"Rift power activated!" yelled Jack.

"All terminals coordinated!" added Gwen.

"National grid online... giving you everything we've got!" concluded Ianto.

"Connecting you to Mr Smith!"

"All telephone networks combined!"

"Sending you the number... now!" said Martha.

"Opening Subwave Network to maximum" answewed Harriet

"Mr Smith... make that call!"

"Calling the Doctor."

"So am I!" Rose pulled her phone out of her pocket frantically.

"Aaand sending!" announced Jack. The signal was beamed out into space.

…

Inside the TARDIS, Martha's mobile rang, snapping the Doctor out of his lethargy. "Phone!"

"Doctor, phone!"

He answered it. "Martha, is that you?! It's a signal!"

"Can we follow it?"

"Oh, just watch me!" the Doctor grinned.

…

Sparkles were flying in the Hub. "I think we've got a fix!" yelled Jack.

…

"Mr Smith, now at 200 per cent!" Sparks were flying from Mr Smith too. "Oh, come on, Doctor!"

….

Rose, Wilf and Sylvia are phoning too. Jenny was pacing anxiously. Rose held her mobile high. "Find me, Doctor. Find me."

…

"Got it! Locking on!" the Doctor pulled a lever and the TARDIS shook violently.

…..

"Harriet! A saucer's locked on to your location, they've found you..." Gwen informed her.

"I know. I'm using the Network to mask your transmission. Keep going!"

But from just outside the house… "Exterminate!"

…..

The TARDIS was lit by red lights again and there were flames everywhere. "We're travelling through time. One second in the future! The phone call's pulling us through!"

…..

"Captain, I'm transferring the Subwave Network to Torchwood. You're in charge now. And tell the Doctor from me... he chose his companions well. It's been an honour." Harriet stood up to face the three Daleks smashing their way into her house. She flashed her ID "Harriet Jones. Former Prime Minister."

"Yes. We know who you are."

"Oh, you know nothing of any human. And that will be your downfall."

"Exterminate!" The others watched in horror as the part of the screen that was being transmitted from Harriet's house turned into white noise.

….

"Three! Two! One!" One by one, the lost planets appeared around the TARDIS. The console room was back to normal and the Doctor and Donna watched the screen, now showing all planets.

"27 planets - and there's the Earth! Why couldn't we see them?!" exclaimed Donna.

"The entire Medusa Cascade has been put a second out of sync with the rest of the universe. Perfect hiding place, tiny little pocket of time. But we found them! Oh, oh, what's that? Hold on, hold on, some sort of Subwave Network..." The Subwave Network appeared on the TARDIS monitor, now with the Doctor and Donna where Harriet used to be.

"Where the hell have you been?! Doctor, it's the Daleks!" yelled Jack.

"He's a bit nice, I thought he'd be older," gushed Gwen.

"He's not that young," Ianto narrowed his eyes.

"It's the Daleks, they are taking people to their spaceship..." cried Sarah Jane.

"...it's not just Dalek Caan!" added Martha.

…..

"That's Donna!" Sylvia pointed.

"That's my girl!"

"Auntie Donna!" They looked at her questioningly, "Long story."

….

The Doctor was looking the people on the screen. "Sarah Jane! Who's that boy? That must be Torchwood. Aren't they brilliant? Look at you all, you clever people!"

"That's Martha. And who's..." Donna pointed at Jack, a smile in her voice, "he?"

"Captain Jack. Don't. Just... don't.

"Doctor, it's me, I came back." Rose said brokenly to the unresponsive screen.

"It's like an outer space Facebook," remarked Donna.

"Everyone except Rose..." sighed the Doctor.

Jenny placed a hand on Rose's shoulder and smiled softly.

…..

The screen in the TARDIS turned to white noise. "Ah..." groaned the Doctor.

"We've lost them!"

The Doctor fiddled with the controls. "No, no, no, no, there's another signal coming through, there's someone else out there." He whacked the top of the monitor. "Hello? Can you hear me?" there was nothing. "Rose?" he asked hopefully.

"Your voice is different. And yet, its arrogance is unchanged," a voice wheezed. Though the screen was still blank, the Doctor froze, recognising the voice.

…

"No. But he's dead..." whispered Sarah Jane, horrified.

The figure appeared on the screen. "Welcome to my new Empire, Doctor. It is only fitting that you should bear witness to the resurrection, and the triumph, of Davros. Lord and creator of the Dalek Race!"

….

The Doctor was breathing heavily, speechless, terrified.

"Doctor?" Donna asked worriedly.

"Have you nothing to say?" Davros asked mockingly.

"Doctor, it's all right. We're-we're in the TARDIS. We're safe," Donna tried to reassure him.

"But you were destroyed. In the very first year of the Time War. At the Gate of Elysium. I saw your command ship fly into the jaws of the Nightmare Child. I tried to save you."

"But it took one stronger than you. Dalek Caan himself."

"I flew into the wild and fire, I danced and died a thousand times," crackled a dalek voice, but it was sing song, and broken.

"Emergency Temporal Shift took him back into the Time War itself," gloated Davros.

"But that's impossible! The entire War is timelocked!"

"And yet he succeeded. Oh, it cost him his mind. But imagine, a single, simple Dalek succeeded where Emperors and Time Lords have failed. A testament, don't you think, to my remarkable creations?"

"And you made a new race of Daleks?"

"I gave myself to them. Quite literally. Each one grown from a cell of my own body." He opened his leather jacket to reveal that the flesh of his chest had been carved away, his ribs and heart were visible. "New Daleks. True Daleks. I have my children, Doctor. What do you have, now?"

"After all this time. Everything we saw... everything we lost... I have only one thing to say to you..." He paused. "Bye!" he added cheerfully. "He pulled a lever and the TARDIS flew off towards the Earth."

….

"Gwen, Dalek saucer heading for the Bay. They've found us," exclaimed Ianto.

Jack was on the phone. "Martha, open that Indigo device... Now listen to me, lift the central panel, there's a string of numbers that keep changing. But the fourth number keeps oscillating between two different digits, tell me what they are."

"It's a four and a nine, we could never work out what that was."

While Jack talked, Ianto helped him into his coat. Yeah, that's the teleport base code. And that's all I need, to get this thing working again!" He typed the numbers into his vortex manipulator. "Oscillating four... and nine. Thank you, Martha Jones!"He hung up, and Gwen handed him his gun. "I've gotta go, I've gotta find the Doctor. I'll come back. I'm coming back!" laughed Jack, unaware about the Daleks heading for the Hub.

"Don't worry about us. Just go." Said Gwen.

"We'll be fine," Ianto smiled stiffly.

"You'd better be!" He teleported.

The Hub shook as the Daleks forced their way inside above. "Exterminate! Exterminate!"

"They're here..."

…..

"TARDIS heading for Vector 7, grid reference 665," announced Mr Smith.

"But there are Daleks out there! cried Luke.

"I know, I'm sorry, but I have got to find the Doctor... Don't move, don't leave the house, don't do anything," Sarah instructed.

"I will protect the boy, Sarah Jane," said Mr Smith.

"I love you. Remember that," she told Luke before she ran to her car and drove off.

….

Rose was on phone. "Control? I need another shift. Lock me onto the TARDIS. Now!" She hungs up and turned to Wilf and Sylvia. "Right, I'm gonna find him. Wish me luck! Jenny hold tight if you're coming."

"Oh, good luck!" Cried Sylvia.

"Yeah, good luck, sweethearts!"

They disappeared in a flash of blue light.

They landed on a street, ayes drawn to the blue box materialising at the other end of the road.

….

The TARDIS landed on a deserted, post-battle street full of abandoned cars, broken bicycles, scattered rubbish. The Doctor and Donna ran out. "Like a ghost town..." sighed Donna.

"Sarah Jane said they were taking the people. What for? Think, Donna, when you met Rose in that parallel world, what did she say?" He asked frantically.

"Just... the darkness is coming."

"Anything else?"

Donna looked away, thinking - then she spotted something behind the Doctor. She smiled, "Why don't you ask her yourself?"

The Doctor turns around. Rose stood there, at the other end of the road, smiling at him in ecstatic disbelief, the bright sunny grin from the portrait.

He stared at her, unable to believe his eyes. Rose threw her gun at Jenny and started to run towards him. He began to sprint towards her, a stupid lovesick grin plastered on his face as he ran, eyes only for her, panting with the exertion of speed and the effort of holding in his overjoyed laughter. Two people running along a road that seemed to go on forever, oblivious to anything but each other. They didn't notice the Dalek until it was too late.

"Exterminate!"

…

This scene always makes me cry! Please give me feedback! There's some misunderstandings and magic moments ahead. Please review and I will love you and post the next chapter tomorrow! x


	21. Chapter 21 White light

Here we go peoples, the start of the showdown.

Ps, I don't mean the END!

I just mean till the reunion is over and it all calms down.

Reunion her we come!

…

The beam soared through the air. Time seemed to slow down, wibbly wobbly unreliable time. The Doctors stride faltered and Rose's eyes widened. Jenny's mouth opened in a silent scream. Her mind seemed to run faster than ever. One millisecond passed and she completed her mental calculation.

Dropped, rolled and shot.

The Doctor couldn't stop, the momentum of his sprint sending him flying through space and time to the inevitability of the dalek death ray. The road was illuminated by the brightest of white light. Rose flung her arm in front of her face, squinting against the brightness, trying to glimpse the man at the centre.

Then it faded, the deadly beam shot backwards, back over the top of the dalek, angled away by the force of the shot Jenny he fired from the ground, to push it above harms way.

"Extermin-"

There was a second blast, as Jack fired his gun at the dalek, and it exploded.

The Doctor was lying on the ground. There was a beat of horrified silence.

Then a groan.

The groan of a man who was alive. And feeling the pain of slamming backwards onto tarmac. "I'm alive!" He seemed shocked himself.

"Doctor! I missed you so much. It's me," Rose Dropped to her knees by his side, helping him sit up.

"Of course it's you! Rose. Rose Tyler, my pink and yellow girl." He stroked her face gently. "Long time no see," he smiled at her radiantly.

"Yeah, been busy, y'know. Are you okay?"

Donna and Jack and Jenny were standing over them.

"Me? Yeah I'm always alright, I've had worse from Donna."

"Oi" she growled warningly.

"Donna, if you're gonna get hefty with your elbows…"

"Well at least someone has a hefty _elbow_," Donna mocked.

Rose took his hands and pulled him gently to his feet, wincing when he grimaced in pain. She ran one hand through his gravity defying hair and held his elbow with the other. "Your elbow feels hefty enough to me," she joked.

Donna let out an enormous snort and the doctor's face went red. "Shut up Donna! It was my elbow."

"Don't worry, it's a private joke. Aka Donna taking the piss," laughed Jenny.

"Captain Jack Harkness, and who are you good looking? I like a girl who's a good shot."

"Keep your flirty man-whore hands off _my _Jenny!" The doctor warned in his oncoming storm voice. Jack took a step back, holding his hands out placatingly.

"Your Jenny?!" yelled Jenny, Rose and Donna simultaneously.

"You've really put your foot in it now space man," tutted Donna.

"I am _not _your property and you do _not_ own me!" Jenny yelled defiantly.

"If we were back on Gallifrey, then I technically would!" He fired back, trying to save his pride.

"Let's take this back to the TARDIS guys, there could be more daleks on the way," Jack heaved the gun over his shoulder and lead the procession into the TARDIS. "Seems a bit 'domestic' for you Doc."

"Shut it!"

…..

Gwen appeared with two machine guns and handed one of them to Ianto. "But, they don't work against Daleks!" he protested.

"Yeah? Well, I'm going out fighting. Like Owen. Like Tosh. How about you?" she declared.

"Yes, ma'am!"

"...exterminate, exterminate..."

…..

"I hate to say this Jenny, but that was a nice shot," the Doctor begrudged her.

"There is an exception to every rule," she replied smugly.

"Come here!" He held out his arms. She ran into them and tucked her head under his chin. "Thought you were dead, or I'd lost you!"

"You left me behind!" she exclaimed breaking from his embrace to sarcastically put her hands on her hips.

"Join the club, gorgeous," muttered Jack.

"Never mind that. Question is Rose Tyler, defender of the Earth, where's my proper hug?"

…

As she swung round the corner, Sarah Jane's car was stopped by two Daleks. "All Human transport is forbidden!"

"I surrender! I'm sorry!" she cried.

"Daleks do not accept apologies! You will be exterminated!"

"Exterminate!"

"Exterminate!"

…

A Dalek appears at the cog door of the Hub. "Exterminate! Exterminate!"

Fulfiling their promise, "Gwen and Ianto open fire."

….

Rose flew at the Doctor, tears in her eyes. The hug was crushing, chest to chest, heads over each other's shoulders. Rose let tears slide from her eyes, half jubilant half crushed. She had found him, but he had jenny now. _His _Jenny. Was that why she had been so nice? Did she feel sorry for her? She had said that the Doctor would never leave her behind. And he hadn't. She was blonde. Not just blonde, but natural blonde. Like Reinette.

"I missed you," he confessed brokenly. "More than I think I've ever missed anyone in a long, long time." One hand stroked her hair. "Maybe ever," he added. It was so quiet she wasn't sure she had heard it.

"Missed you too, Doctor," she drew back with a smile. He was glad to see her. That was good enough for now, _'Cause we've never been like that, not really'. _He was glad to see her, and she could smile for him for now, but only for now would that be _enough…_

Oblivious to Rose's silent anguish, Jenny nudged Donna, smiling at the embracing pair. Donna smiled back

…..

Sarah Jane covered her face with her arms, waiting for the death ray. "Exterminate! Exterminate!"

With flashes of blue light, Mickey and Jackie appeared beside the car and they blasted the Daleks, with guns similar to the one rose had been carrying. Sarah Jane got out of the car, shocked. "Mickey?" she gasped.

"Us Smiths gotta stick together!"

"Jackie Tyler. Rose's mum. Now where the hell is my daughter?!"

…

Gwen and Ianto shot at the Dalek, raging. But they noticed something strange and they ceased fire. They walked forward cautiously and saw their bullets hanging in the air, like they were stopped by an invisible wall. Gwen reached out slowly to touched it - she can't, but her finger made a ripple in the air. "What the hell...?"

….

"How've you been? Really?" The Doctor asked Rose tentatively.

"Busy, I've changed a lot, torchwood isn't like this, I think I've hardened up a bit. But I'm still me," she told him just as tentatively. He smiled joyously and pulled her back into the hug, rubbing up and down her back. Jenny, Jack and Donna just smiled, so happy for them.

"You can hug me, if you want," Donna told Jack with a smile. He laughed. "No, really, you can hug me!" she said seriously.

…..

Gwen and Ianto were working on a computer trying to find out what stopped the bullets and the Dalek. "It's a Time Lock! The ultimate defence programme. Tosh was working on it, never thought she finished it, but she did! The Hub's sealed in a time bubble, nothing can get in," Ianto told her.

"But that means we can't get out."

"Nope. Not without unlocking that Dalek. We're trapped inside. It's all up to Jack now."

…..

Four Daleks surrounded the TARDIS. "Report! TARDIS has been located!"

Instructions came from the supreme dalek. "Bring it here! Bring the Doctor to me! Initiate temporal prison!"

The Daleks glided back as a shining blue circle appeared around the TARDIS. "Temporal prison initiated.

….

Inside, the console room went dark. "They've got us! Power's gone! Some kind of chronon loop... The ship rocked as it was pulled up towards the sky. Sarah Jane, Mickey and Jackie were hiding behind a van, watching the TARDIS fly away.

"Transferring TARDIS to the Crucible."

"Those teleport things, can we use them? If they've taken the Doctor to the Dalek spaceship, that's where we need to be," Sarah Jane told Mickey.

"It's not just a teleport, it's a Dimension Jump. Mind, this thing rips a hole in the fabric of space," he replied, showing it to her.

"But can we use it?"

"Not yet, it burns up energy, needs half an hour between jumps."

Sarah thought for a minute. "Then put down your guns."

"Do what?" Micky asked her, horrified.

"If you're carrying a gun, they'll shoot you dead." She stepped out of the cover of the van and walked towards the Daleks, her hands held up in surrender. "Daleks! I surrender!"

"All humans in this sector will be taken to the Crucible!"

"She's bloody mad!" Mickey shook his head.

"Yeah, but Mickey, if they've got the Doctor, then they've got Rose," Jackie put down her gun and stepped forward too. "And us! We surrender!" Mickey kissed his gun before he threw it down and followed Jackie out onto the street.

…

"Now Jack's explained the base code, I know how this teleport works. I think. But you just stay indoors, there's no Daleks on this street, you should be all right, just um... keep quiet," Martha told her mum.

"But where are you going?"

"I'm a member of UNIT, and they gave me the Osterhagen Key. I've got to do my job." She held out her hand to keep Francine at a distance. "I'm sorry."

"Martha. What's an Osterhagen Key? Tell me. What does it do?"

"Love you," she sobbed before she teleported away.

GERMANY 60 miles outside Nuremberg. Martha landed in a forest. She could hear the Daleks nearby.

"Exterminieren! Exterminieren!"

"Halt! Sonst werden wir Sie exterminieren! Sie sind jetzt ein Gefangener der Daleks!"

Martha peered through the woods and saw several Daleks gliding through the forest. "Exterminieren! Exterminieren!" She ran in the opposite direction.

…..

"There's a massive Dalek ship at the centre of the planets. They're calling it the Crucible. Guess that's our destination," announce Jack.

"You said these planets were like an engine. But what for?" Donna asked the Doctor.

"Rose! You've been in a parallel world, that world's running ahead of this universe. You've seen the future. What was it?" he fired at her.

"It's the darkness."

"The stars were going out," Donna remembered.

"One by one. We looked up at the sky and they were just dying. Basically, we've been building this, um... this travel machine, this... this, er, Dimension Cannon, so I c- well, so, I could..." she trailed off to show it was obvious.

"What? He asked.

"So I could come back," The Doctor grinned the worlds goofiest, full of himself grin. Donna coughed something that sounded a lot like 'ego'. "Shut up. Anyway, suddenly, it started to work and the dimensions started to collapse. Not just in our world, not just in yours, but the whole of reality. Even the Void was dead. Something is destroying everything."

"In that parallel world... you said something about me. And… and a third factor.

"The Dimension Cannon could measure timelines, and it's... it's weird, Donna, but they all seemed to converge on you, and this third fate equation we could only name as 9836/ 0.567."

"That's Jenny!" exclaimed the Doctor. "Named unto the universe as a string of numbers. We should really fix that."

"Don't worry, if I keep traveling with you I'm bound to pick up a few legendary names. If you're the oncoming storm, I wonder what they'll call me!"

There was a beep and the Doctor leaned towards the monitor. "The Dalek Crucible. All aboard!"

The Daleks had transferred the TARDIS to the bridge of the Crucible. "The TARDIS is secured."

"Doctor, you will step forth or die," boomed the supreme dalek.

"We'll have to go out. Cos if we don't, they'll get in," the Doctor told them gravely.

"You told me nothing could get through those doors," protested Rose.

"You've got extrapolator shielding!" added Jack.

"Last time we fought the Daleks, they were scavengers and hybrids and mad. But this is a fully-fledged Dalek Empire, at the height of its power. Experts at fighting TARDISes, they can do anything. Right now, that wooden door... is just wood."

"What about your Dimension Jump?" Jack asked Rose.

"It needs another 20 minutes, and anyway, I'm not leaving," she fired up.

"What about your teleport?" The Doctor asked Jack.

"Went down with the power loss."

"Right, then, all of us together... Yeah," the Doctor rallied.

"Yeah," they echoed.

"I'm sorry. There's nothing else we can do."

"Surrender, Doctor, and face your Dalek masters," the supreme Dalek ordered.

"Crucible on maximum alert."

"Daleks," laughed Rose nervously.

"Oh, God!" laughed Jack exuberantly.

"It's been good, though, hasn't it? All of us, all of it. Everything we did." He turned to Donna "You were brilliant." She smiled at him. The Doctor then turned to Jack. "And you were brilliant." Jack grinned back at him. The Doctor then looked at Rose. "And you were brilliant!" his voice was choked with emotion. "And Jenny." She let out a sob. "Oh Jen I wish we'd had more time. Time was the only thing I was sure we had enough of." She sobbed again but smiled and nodded. "Blimey!" The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, followed by Rose, Donna and Jack.

"Daleks reign supreme. All hail the Daleks!"

"Daleks reign supreme. All hail the Daleks! Daleks reign supreme. All hail the Daleks!"

Jenny walked towards the door, taking what could be her last look at a home, and a friend. The TARDIS cried out, a single low melancholy note of song that reverberated in Jenny's head, cutting deep. Jenny put her hand on a support strut, to comfort her.

"Daleks reign supreme. All hail the Daleks! Daleks reign supreme. All hail the Daleks!" The Doctor, Rose, Donna and Jack watch the countless Daleks swarming in the air.

"Behold, Doctor! Behold the might of the true Dalek race!"

"Jenny, you're no safer in there," the Doctor called to her.

She patted the TARDIS gently, the turned. Turned to see the doors slamming shut.

"What?!" cried the Doctor running to the door.

"She called me back! She won't let me out. Don't leave me, I'm not staying behind!"

"This is Time Lord treachery," boomed the supreme dalek.

"Me? The door just closed on its own!"

"It's the TARDIS!" yelled Jenny.

"Nevertheless, the TARDIS is a weapon and it will be destroyed." A trapdoor opened beneath the TARDIS and it fell down.

"What are you doing? Bring it back!" he ordered the supreme dalek.

….

Jenny clung to the railings as the TARDIS fell through an endless tunnel. "No!"

….

"What've you done, where's it going?!" the Doctor demended.

"The Crucible has a heart of Z-Neutrino Energy. The TARDIS will be deposited into the core."

"You can't, you've taken the defences down, it'll be torn apart! Jenny!" the doctor shouted, absolutely horrified.

…

The TARDIS lands in the energy globe at the heart of the Crucible. The console room was in flames, lights in the walls were smashing. Jenny jumped up and ran to the console. '_coordinates, coordinates… oh why the bloody hell hasn't he taught me to do this on my own?!' . _She choked against the smoke in the air.

….

"But Jenny's still in there!" cried Rose

"Let her go!" ordered Jack.

"Doctor do something," Donna started to cry.

"The female and the TARDIS will perish together. Observe!" The supreme Dalek activated a holographic screen that showed the TARDIS, bobbing in the energy field. "The last child of Gallifrey is powerless."

"Please, I'm begging you, I'll do anything! Put me in her place, you can do anything to me, I don't care, just get her out of there!" The Doctor started to panic. "Anything you want! Donna I love her! I didn't tell her, I never told her, but I do!" he howled. Donna held his shoulder.

Rose's heart broke. Both for him and for her, because he was in love with someone else, and he was losing them.

Please review people, I didn't get many for the last chapter and in was kind of discouraging. Shout out to those who did though.


	22. Chapter 22 Davros's Vault

Here we go! All is revealed… (well a lot anyway)

….

Jenny lay on the floor retching, this was her last chance, she lunged for the lever, her bodyweight pulling it down, as she fell limply to the ground.

…..

The Doctor watched the screen in despair, breathing heavily.

"You are connected to the TARDIS. Now feel it die!" Taunted the supreme dalek.

"Rose walked over to the Doctor and took his hand as they watched the TARDIS on the screen.

"Total TARDIS destruction in ten rels, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one..." The TARDIS disappeared "The TARDIS has been destroyed. Now tell me, Doctor. What do you feel? Anger? Sorrow? Despair?"

"Yeah," the doctor replied brokenly.

"Then if emotions are so important, surely we have enhanced you?"

"Yeah? Feel this!" roared Jack. He shot at the Supreme Dalek with his handgun, causing no damage at all.

"Exterminate!" The death ray hit Jack and he collapsed, dead.

Rose knelt down to him. "Jack! Oh, my God! Oh, no!"

"Rose, come here, leave him," the Doctor rubbed her shoulder gently. He pulled a shocked Donna into his arms as well.

"They killed him," cried Rose.

"I know. I'm sorry," he soothed.

"Escort them to the Vault," ordered the supreme dalek.

The Doctor pulled Rose up from Jack's body. "There's nothing we can do."

"They are the playthings of Davros now."

The Doctor looked back to Jack who winked at him.

…

The smoke cleared and there was silence in the TARDIS. The TARDIS itself let out a low, agonised note of song. Then there was nothing. Drifting in the void the TARDIS could feel no psychic presence. The silent heaviness weighed in the air minutes dragged like hours.

Jenny rolled over and retched.

She had burns form the flames up her arms and her face ground against shards of glass and the rough grating, as she rolled onto her front. She used the scanner to pull herself up, before assessing her location. The Vortex. She had done it, wheezing a sigh of relief, she set the coordinated to lock on to the location of her father.

….

Martha arrived at an abandoned castle. And old woman came down to meet her."Hier ist niemand. Was immer Sie wollen, gehen Sie fort. Lassen Sie mich in Ruhe!"

"Ich heisse Martha Jones. Ich komme von UNIT. Agentin fuenf sechs sechs sieben eins, von der medizinishen Abteilung." Martha replied.

"Es hiess Sie kaemen vorbei. That accent, that is London, ja? I went to London. Long time ago."

"I thought this place was supposed to be guarded," Martha cut across.

"There were soldiers. Boys. I brought them food, every day. But when der Albtraum came from the sky... they went home, to die. But not you?"

"I've got a job to do." Determined, Martha walked into the castle. She crossed a dark room and pulled away a curtain, revealing a hidden door. She entered a code and put her hand to the palm scanner.

The woman followed her into the room. "London, in those days. To see it! So much glamour. I was so young. I heard the soldiers talking. Many times. They would speak of the Osterhagen Key. I think London must be changed now, yes? But still, the glamour." Martha opened the door, but turned back as she heard the woman cocking a handgun. "You will not go."

"I've got no choice," Martha gritted her teeth.

"I know the Key. What it does. Sie sind der Albtraum, nicht die anderen, Sie! Ich sollte Sie umbringen, am besten gleich jetzt!"

"Then do it," Martha deadpanned. The woman trembled, then lowered the gun. Martha stepped into the lift behind the door.

"Martha... Zur Hoelle mit Dir!"

"I know," Martha replied sadly.

…..

"Commence disposal. Incinerate!"

Jack lay as still as he could, as the daleks loaded his supposedly lifeless body into the incinerator, with a bunch of other rubbish.

"Disposal completed." The Daleks left. A second later, Jack climbed back into the chamber, coughing but alive.

…

Martha arrived to a small chamber filled with screens and controls. She sat down and pressed a button. "This is Osterhagen Station One. My name is Martha Jones. Is there anyone there? Over."

…

"Prisoners now on board the Crucible. They will be taken for testing." The Daleks herded forward the prisoners, including Sarah Jane, Mickey and Jackie.

"One step closer to the Doctor," Sarah said bracingly.

…

"Activate the holding cells," ordered Davros.

The Doctor, Donna and Rose stood several feet from each other, the holding cells they were put into looked like spotlights over them. Davros rolled towards the Doctor.

"Excellent. Even when powerless, a Time Lord is best contained."

"Still scared of me, then?" taunted the Doctor. He reached out and touched the edge of the holding cell - it rippled with blue light.

"It is time we talked, Doctor. After so very long."

"No no no no no, we're not doing the nostalgia tour, I wanna know what's happening, right here, right now, cos the Supreme Dalek said Vault, yeah?" The Doctor stopped to look around. "As in dungeon? Cellar? Prison? You're not in charge of the Daleks, are you? They've got you locked away down here in the basement like, what, a servant? Slave? Court jester?"

"We have... an arrangement.

"No no no no, I've got the word. You're the Dalek's pet!" the Doctor laughed mockingly.

"So very full of fire, is he not? And to think you crossed entire universes, striding parallel to parallel to find him again," Davros addressed Rose.

"Leave her alone."

"She is mine, to do as I plea-"

Davros was cut off by the most beautiful sound in the universe. They all stood speechless as the TARDIS materialised in the vault.

"Impossible!" exclaimed Davros.

Jenny burst out of the TARDIS, and coughed twice. "Bit of a wreck in there, sorry," she said sheepishly.

"How did you-" spluttered Davros. "Activate holding cell."

"Time lady." Jenny crossed her battered arms across her chest.

"Jenny you aren't a-"

Jenny cut the Doctor off, "I can fly her better than you can so yet I am thank you!"

"You must be the third factor. It was foretold. Even the Supreme Dalek would not dare to contradict the prophecies of Dalek Caan."

Davros turns on the spotlight over Dalek Caan. "So cold and dark, fire is coming, the endless flames..."

"What is that thing?" Rose asked the Doctor.

"You've met before. The last of the Cult of Skaro. But it flew into the Time War, unprotected."

"Caan did more than that. He saw time, its infinite complexity and majesty, raging through his mind. And he saw you. All of you," gloated Davros.

"This I have foreseen, in the wild, and the wind. The Doctor will be here, as witness. At the end of everything. The Doctor and his precious Children of Time," the mutant giggled. "And one of them will never be the same."

"And now to you, the third factor, _Jenny_," sneered Davros. "How did you escape the time war? How did you escape the legends? How have you stayed undetected?"

"The time war…" Jenny trailed off looking slightly confused.

"And she can't remember. Did you did this Doctor? Did you take away her memories so she doesn't remember the carnage of your people, caused by your own hand?" taunted Davros.

"What?!" cried Jenny, eyes wide on her father.

"Shut up! You have no right! I am not that man, I am _no longer _that man! That man was _never _the Doctor! You stay away from her, and don't ever talk to her again!" the Doctor bellowed, full of rage.

"Oh, that's it! The anger. The fire. The rage of a Time Lord who butchered millions. There he is! Why so shy? Show your companions. Show this woman, daughter of Gallifrey, show her your true self. Dalek Caan has promised me that, too."

"I have seen. At the time of ending, the Doctor's soul will be revealed."

"What does that mean?"

"We will discover it together, and so will your woman." He turned from Jenny to Rose. "Galaxy after galaxy, parallel after parallel and jump after jump in time, to find that your precious Doctor has found a woman of his own kind!"

"My woman? You mean… you think… you … _Jenny _is my … That's disgusting!"

"This just turned into Jerry springer," muttered Donna.

"Dad does he mean… that is… that's just… errrrrghhhh!" cringed Jenny.

"I would rather do _Donna!"_ The Doctor's face seemed to shrivel at the prospect.

"Oi!" growled Donna.

"Dad that's mean," scolded Jenny.

"Dad!?" exclaimed Rose.

"How many Gallifreyan are there?" demanded Davros.

"Just us," said the Doctor brightly.

"Who's her mother?" gaped Rose.

"You're looking at him!" snorted Donna.

"Like Davros's daleks I suppose. Progenation. Jenny came from my cells."

"This will be our final journey. Because the ending approaches, the testing begins," declared Davros.

"Testing of what?"

Davros wheeled back around. "The Reality Bomb."

…

"Prisoners will stand in the designated area! Move! Move!" As the prisoners walk ahead, a woman fell to her knees. "You will stand!"

"I can't..." she cried.

"You will stand!"

"I can't. Please!"

"On your feet. On your feet!"

While the Daleks were distracted, Sarah Jane ran to a door and opened it with her sonic lipstick. "Mickey! Mickey!"

"Jackie!" Mickey called. Mickey followed Sarah Jane, but Jackie helped the scared woman to her feet, she couldn't slip away unnoticed.

"Prisoners will stand in the designated area!"

Mickey and Sarah Jane watched the prisoners through the window in the door. "We can't just leave her!" protested Mickey, about to go back through.

"No, Mickey, wait!" A Dalek had glided in front of their door.

"What does it mean? What are they testing, what are they gonna do?" the woman asked Jackie.

They looked up to see a big, circular green device. "I reckon it's that thing there."

"Testing calibration of Reality Bomb! Firing in ten rels, nine, eight, seven..."

…..

"Behold the apotheosis of my genius!" Davros boasted. He flicked a switch and a holographic screen appeared, showing the test area.

"...two, one, zero. Activate planetary alignment field!"

"That's Z-Neutrino energy... flattened by the alignment of the planets into a single string." The Doctor turned to Davros in horror. "No! Davros! Davros, you can't! You can't! NO!"

….

Sarah Jane watched the prisoners while Mickey paces up and down in frustration. The Dimension Jumps beeped in his pocket. "30 minutes... it's recharged!" He dashed to the window, showing it to Jackie, gesturing wildly. "It's recharged! It's recharged! Use it!"

Jackie turned to the frightened woman. "I'm so sorry." She pressed the button and disappeared, reappearing next to Mickey. Mickey and Jackie hugged each other, then the three of them watched in horror as the Reality Bomb started to work and the prisoners got dissolved into atoms.

"Test completed."

…

"Doctor? What happened?" asked Rose.

"Electrical energy, Miss Tyler. Every atom in existence is bound by an electrical field. The Reality Bomb cancels it out. Structure falls apart. That test was focused on the prisoners alone. Full transmission will dissolve every form of matter," explained Davros smugly.

"Stars are going out..." linked Rose.

"The 27 planets. They become one vast transmitter. Blasting that wavelength..." trailed off the Doctor.

"Across the entire universe. Never stopping, never faltering, never fading. People and planets and stars will become dust, and the dust will become atoms, and the atoms will become... nothing. And the wavelength will continue, breaking through the Rift at the heart of the Medusa Cascade into every dimension, every parallel, every single corner of creation! This is my ultimate victory, Doctor! The destruction of reality itself!"

…

"Prepare for universal detonation! The fleet will gather at the Crucible! All Daleks will return to shelter from the cataclysm! We will become the only life forms in existence!"

The Dalek spaceships began to leave the Earth. People ran to the street to watch them go.

"Look, they're leaving! Dad, they're going, the Daleks are going!" smiled Sylvia.

"Going where, though? And Donna's still out there. It's not over yet, sweetheart."

…..

A panel on the wall was thrown open and Jack rolled out. He looked at Mickey, Sarah Jane and Jackie. "Just my luck. I climb through two miles of ventilation shafts, chasing life signs on this thing..." He points at his wrist device. "And who do I find? Mickey Mouse."

"You can talk, Captain Cheesecake!" There was a pause, before they laughed and hugged each other.

"Good to see you... and that's Beefcake," Jacked corrected.

"And that's enough hugging," said Mickey uncomfortably.

Jack let him go and saluted to Sarah Jane. "We meet at last, Miss Smith."

"There is something we can do. You've got to understand. I have a son down there on Earth. He's only 14 years old. I've brought this." Sarah Jane held up something that looked like a diamond pendant. Jack watched it with open-mouthed awe."It was given to me by a Verron Soothsayer. He said, "This is for the End of Days.""

"Is that a Warp Star?" gaped Jack. Sarah Jane nodded.

"Gonna tell me what a Warp Star is?" interrupted Mickey.

"A warpfold conjugation trapped in a carbonised shell. It's an explosion, Mickey. An explosion waiting to happen," explained Jack.

…

"This is Osterhagen Station Five. Are you receiving, Station One?" A Chinese girl asked Martha over the intercom.

"I've got you. That makes three of us and three is all we need," Martha replied.

"My name is Anna Zhou, what's yours?"

"Martha Jones. What about you, Station Four? You never said."

"I don't want my name on this. Given what we're about to do," the Liberian man confessed solemly.

"So what happens now? Do we do it?" asked Anna Zhou.

"No. Not yet."

"UNIT instructions say, once three Osterhagen Stations are online..."

"Yeah, but I've got a higher authority, way above UNIT. And there's one more thing the Doctor would do," Martha said thoughtfully.

…

"Incoming transmission! Origin Planet Earth."

"Display!"

Martha appeared on a holographic screen. "This is Martha Jones, representing the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, on behalf of the human race."

"Send transmission to the Vault. Continue to monitor," ordered The supreme dalek.

The screen appeared in the Vault too. "This message is for the Dalek Crucible, repeat, can you hear me?"

"Martha!" exclaimed Jenny joyfully.

"Put me through," demanded the Doctor.

"It begins. As Dalek Caan foretold."

"The Children of Time will gather. And one of them will change forever!" giggled Caan.

"Stop saying that! Put me through!"

"Doctor! I'm sorry. I had to," apologised Martha.

"Oh, but the Doctor is powerless. My prisoner. State your intent."

"I've got the Osterhagen Key. Leave this planet and its people alone. Or I'll use it."

"Osterhagen what? What's an Osterhagen Key?!" asked the Doctor incredulously.

"There's a chain of 25 nuclear warheads, placed in strategic points beneath the Earth's crust. If I use the key, they detonate and the Earth gets ripped apart."

"What?! Who invented that?! Well, someone called Osterhagen, I suppose. Martha, are you insane!?"

"The Osterhagen Key is to be used, if the suffering of the human race is so great, so without hope... that this becomes the final option," insisted Martha.

"That's never an option!"

"Don't argue with me, Doctor! Cos it's more than that. Now, I reckon the Daleks need these 27 planets for something, but what if it becomes 26? What happens then? Daleks? Would you risk it?"

"She's good," Rose nodded, impressed.

"Who is that?" asked Martha

"My name's Rose. Rose Tyler."

"Oh, my God! He found you."

"Second transmission, internal!" warned one of the daleks.

"Display!"

A second screen appears. It showed Jack holding the Warp Star high, Sarah Jane, Mickey and Jackie in the background. "Captain Jack Harkness, calling all Dalek boys and girls! Are you receiving me? Don't send in your goons, or I'll set this thing off!"

"He's still alive! Oh my god, that-that's my mum!" gasped Rose.

"And Mickey - Captain, what are you doing?" gaped the Doctor.

"I've got a Warp Star wired into the mainframe. I break this shell, the entire Crucible goes up," threatened Jack.

"You can't! Where did you get a Warp Star?!" His companions kept shocking him further and further.

Sarah Jane stepped forward. "From me! We had no choice. We saw what happened to the prisoners."

"Impossible. That face... after all these years," said Davros as he recognised her.

"Davros? It's been quite a while. Sarah Jane Smith, remember?" she sad venomously.

"Oh, this is meant to be! The Circle of Time is closing. You were there, on Skaro, at the very beginning of my creation."

"And I've learnt how to fight since then! You let the Doctor go, or this Warp Star - it gets opened."

"I'll do it! Don't imagine I wouldn't," Jack held it higher.

"Now that's what I call a ransom!" Rose grinned. "Doctor?"

But the Doctor levelled his eyes at the floor, overcome with guilt.

"And the prophecy unfolds," gloated Davros.

"The Doctor's soul is revealed." Caan giggled. "See him! See the heart of him!"

"The man who abhors violence. Never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor. You take ordinary people and you fashion THEM into weapons. Behold your Children of Time, transformed into murderers. I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this."

"They're trying to help," he tried to convince himself.

"Already, I have seen them sacrifice today, for their beloved Doctor. The Earth woman, who fell opening the Subwave Network."

"Who was that?" asked The Doctor quietly.

"Harriet Jones. She gave her life to get you here," Rose told him gently.

"How many more? Just think! How many have died in your name? The Doctor. The man who keeps running, never looking back. Because he dare not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you... yourself."

For once, the Doctor had no answer.

There was a clatter. The sound of a pistol hitting the floor. The Doctor looked up at Jenny's eyes. She held out her empty hands and smiled at him. "I'm not a soldier anymore."

….

Let's face it Davros is just such a little shit.

Plenty ahead, the Doctor and rose have to have a proper heart and heart to heart. Stay tuned for a Jackie slap and find out how they defeat the daleks now there is no chance of that stupid clone popping up.

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! X love you all but special thank you to:

LadaHathaway who gave me lovely feedback and someone to rant to ; )

emilybyars2 who also gives really go feedback

jenn008 who is my most loyal reviewer and has reviewed on like very chapter so far!

Thank you all so much for the support.


	23. Chapter 23 Bad wolf

We're getting closer!

…..

"Enough! Engage defence zero-five."

"It's the Crucible or the Earth," threatened Martha on the screen, holding up the key.

"Transmat engaged." The Osterhagen Key and the Warp Star fell to the ground as the transmat snatched Martha, as well as Jack, Mickey, Sarah Jane and Jackie to the Vault.

Jack helped Martha to her feet. "Martha! I've got you, it's all right..."

"Don't move, all of you, stay still!" Begged the Doctor.

"Guard them! On your knees, all of you. Surrender!" ordered Davros.

"Do as he says."

"Mum, I told you not to!" groaned Rose.

"Yeah, but I couldn't leave you."

"How're you doing Jenny?" Joked Martha.

"Pretty good. I got my own force field thingy, Whoo!" she relied sarcastically, and batted the sides to make it glow.

"The final prophecy is in place. The Doctor and his children, all gathered as witnesses. Supreme Dalek, the time has come! Now... detonate the Reality Bomb!" Shouted Davros.

"Activate planetary alignment field!" The planets started to glow with energy. "Universal Reality Detonation in 200 rels."

"You can't, Davros, just listen to me! Just stop!" pleaded the Doctor.

"Nothing can stop the detonation, nothing and no-one!" Davros laughed with delight.

"Doctor what are we going to do?" Donna shouted over Davros's hysterics.

"There's nothing I can do!"

"Good job you've got me then. Because the TARDIS called me back for a reason. In about… ooh anytime now-" Jenny was cut off as the doors of the TARDIS burst open, bright gold spilling out. "She told me to open her heart."

"No Jenny no this is bad, bad news!" the Doctor shook his head frantically. "Don't look at the light!" he yelled at his companions.

"Doctor what's happening to Rose!" shouted Donna. Everyone looked at her.

She was gasping and whimpering, he head in her hands. "Rose, Rose please look at me," The Doctor begged her.

With a great exhalation of breath, she stood upright, her hair a halo, her eyes glowing an ethereal goddess gold. "Reunited, we are home. We looked into each other's hearts and buried ourselves so deep." Her voice echoed, high and trembling with emotion. "She is calling reaching out to me."

"This is blasphemy! The abomination!" howled Davros.

"I see the time lines. I see all of time and space and it's burning me."

"Rose let it go, it will kill you," the Doctor was blocked by the containment field.

"We are released!" Rose declared. The field on each holding cell exploded outwards like wind. "I am the bad wolf, and I will _never _be contained." The Doctor ran forward but she held out her hand. "Every thing Dalek must end. I take every single dalek atom. I cancel _your _fields. Everything must come to dust. I return the planets, back to time, to space." The Daleks in the vault disintegrated into dust, and the planets on the scanner disappeared, one after the other. Rose reeled, clutching her temples. The others watched in horror. "I see it all, all that is, all that was, all that ever could be. But I burn. I am sorry, my Doctor, for we both know what must happen."

"Doctor what will happen?" cried Jackie, "What will happen to my Rose?"

"Oh Rose, Rose Tyler, Dame Rose of the Powell estate. The first girl to kill me twice." He gathered her in his arms.

"Kill you! Dad what –"

The Doctor kissed her, Rose Tyler, the girl who would wait forever. The threads of golden TARDIS soul, connecting their eyes. He swept her into his arms as she fell limp. He pressed his forehead against hers, before straitening up, holding her bridal style, and breathing the gold back into the TARDIS which glowed brightly before it went dull. He murmured to Rose gently in Gallifreyan. Soft and songlike.

"Right, everyone in the TARDIS, without a crew to maintain conditions, that Z-nutrino energy core is going to blow up the crucible." Everyone stood in shocked silence. "Move, move!" The all broke out of the trance and scurried towards the doors. "Everyone! All of you, inside! Run! In! In! In! In! Sarah Jane! Jackie! Jack! Mickey! Martha! Jenny! Donna!"

"You did this Doctor! Time lord treachery!" bellowed Davros. An Explosions shook the Vault, fire and destruction everywhere. The Doctor shouted out to Davros. "It's starting! Davros! Come with me! I promise I can save you!

"Never forget, Doctor. You did this! I name you, forever... you are the Destroyer of the Worlds!" he screamed as he disappears behind flames.

The Doctor rushed inside the TARDIS and ran to the console, which is surrounded by all his friends. "Jack take her off me!" He placed Rose in Jack's arms. There was a crash. "Jenny back to the Vortex! Her shields are down!" She pulled a lever and the TARDIS shook violently as they took off. The Crucible exploded.

"Doctor what's wrong with her? What's wrong with my Rose," asked Jackie frantically.

"Nothing she's just –" the Doctor was cut off by a deep groan which seemed to bubble from deep in his chest "– unconscious,"

"Doctor what's wrong?!" gasped Donna.

"Oh no! Oh Doctor no," cried Sarah Jane.

"Don't cry Sarah Jane, it seems that you always cry when I regenerate," he reminisced, wincing in pain.

"Killed you twice… Dad are you dying? You're regenerating," it dawned on Jenny, who's eyes filled with tears.

Rose gave a groan and sat up in Jacks lap. "Ooh Déjà vu. Jack why am I in your lap?" she looked around, and found him. She locked eyes with the Doctor. "Doctor the singing, the singing was back. Like last time!" The doctor nodded in affirmation, before doubling over in pain. "Oh my god like last time! No! No you can't not for me, please don't!"

"Rose you're worth it! I'll always think you're worth it. My Rose Tyler, my bad wolf."

"M-my Doctor," she sobbed, walking towards him.

He held out hands to stop her. "My pink and yellow girl," he tried to smile through the pain. "Stay back! Jenny I need you to come here."

Jenny rushed to his side. "What can I do?"

"I hope this works," he panted. He exploded. The orange-gold Artron pouring out of his body. They all shielded their eyes against the brightness. Then the Doctor's body twisted, like a magnet, a compass, and the flow of energy encompassed Jenny. Then the flow broke and he shot upright, and shook himself off. "Did it work? Same teeth… mirror I need a mirror!" He turned off the scanner and looked in the shiny screen. "Yes! I still have sideburns! It worked!"

"What the hell did you do to me? I feel like I've been hit over the head with a brick!" accused Jenny.

"I just killed two birds with one stone. My plan was to kick-start you regeneration cycle, because your body is too mature for you to learn, But then I thought, why stop there? I can kick-start it by using the excess Artron, that would change my body, that I don't need after I've healed myself. I'ts not gonna feel nice, but heigh ho that's, what, four thousand eight hundred potential years of life I've just unlocked."

"You just gave me four thousand eight hundred years of your life?!"

"No! I've only got about eight hundred left, and that's if I'm careful, which I'm not," he explained quickly. "You had those years you just couldn't access them. When a Gallifreyan's mind and Body are both matured to a certain level, they undergo a regeneration that is not a regeneration, as their Artron activates. Coming of age, huge party. But all that aside, you were created too mature to undergo this process. Problem solved," He babbled, then fell silent.

"So she's time lord?" asked mickey, breaking the silence.

"She's my daughter." There was a deafening silence.

"You said, that time with that drawings girl, you said 'I was a Dad once'. Did you mean Jenny?" said Rose.

"Um no, I was referring to my past actually. Jenny was created rather recently."

"You had children?" gasped Sarah.

"Can't imagine you as a Father," remarked Jackie bluntly. "You're just a big kid."

"I'll have you know that I am a grandfather!" the Doctor puffed out his chest.

"_WHAT!" _the communal shout echoed in the TARDIS.

"Well I was, she's gone now." The doctor shut down. "Looking good for it don't you think?"

"You didn't change? Your still you, I mean your still 'looking good for it,' but, you're the same man?" asked Rose tentatively.

"Oh yes, I'm still me," He grinned.

"So is this what happened last time, but without a Jenny?" Rose smiled at the girl. Jenny smiled back.

"Pretty much yeah."

"Kiss her last time as well Doc?" teased Jack.

"Kiss me!" Rose whirled around. "You kissed me!"

"Yeah…" the Doctor confessed rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"So you are telling me, that I cannot remember our first and second kiss?" Rose protested.

"Or the one on new new Earth," he mumbled.

"The _what_!"

"Cassandra got handsy…" he trailed off deep in thought. He didn't see the hand coming until it cracked across her face.

"You snogged my daughter when she was being possessed! That's like feeling someone up when they're asleep!" yelled Jackie.

"She kissed me! Back off Jackie! It's always the mothers," he whined. "Shut up Donna! If you keep laughing like that you're going to wet yourself!"

"Doctor my son, Luke, can I talk to him," interrupted Sarah Jane, between breaths of laughter.

"Yup! I'm on it! Calling Luke! This is the Doctor. Come on Luke, shake a leg!"

Luke was instantly at the screen "Is Mum there?"

"Oh, she's fine and dandy..."

"Yes! Yes!" Sarah laughed with relief.

"I'm fine mum! Come home," he laughed back.

Jenny found herself blushing, for no obvious reason. She felt a hand on her back and looked up to see Rose, a look of understanding on her face, waggling her eyebrows suggestively. Jenny blushed redder. "You really are his Daughter," whispered Rose conspirationally. "You've got the same dopey little 'fancy that' face." Jenny spluttered, but Rose just laughed and gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"You know what will be fun?" cried the Doctor, oblivious to their little conversation, "Now then, you lot... Sarah, hold that down. Mickey, you hold that. Cos, you know why this TARDIS always is always rattling about the place? Rose, that, there. It's designed to have six pilots. And I had to do it single handed. Martha, keep that level. But not any more! Jack, there you go, steady that. Jenny you can do the coordinates for the earth. Now we can fly this thing... No, Jackie, no, no, not you, don't touch anything, just... stand back." He gently pushed Jackie away, then returned to the others. "Like it's meant to be flown! We've got the Torchwood Rift looped around the TARDIS by Mr Smith, and we're gonna fly Planet Earth back home!" He took his own place at the console. "Right then! Off we go!"

The flight was unusually calm, as they worked together as a perfect team. The Doctor pointed to the control Rose was steadying. "Jenny could you take over a minute? Rose, Jackie a word." The three of them leaned against one of the support struts.

"Doctor, is this what I think it's about?" asked Rose nervously.

"Depends what you're thinking. Its decision time. I can't leave this Universe, I can't. I have too much history to leave behind. I have to stay no matter what happens. Rose you can either go back," he took a breath to steady himself. "Either go back to Pete's World, or you can come back with me."

"I can't leave my family I got my Dad back, I can't choose to abandon that, but I can't chose to leave you!"

"Well there is option three. You all leave Pete's world, and restart a life here in your old Universe."

…

Cliffie! Thank you so much for the reviews!

Your support means everything! xxx ooo xxx

I think Rose and Jenny are going to get on!


	24. Chapter 24 Not goodbye but see you later

Just gonna go ahead and crack this one off with a bit of a bang!

….

Rose and Jackie gaped at him. "I can't leave these people. I can't leave my Jenny and she won't leave her Auntie Donna, and I'm not dragging _Sylvia_ to another universe, she hates me enough already! Option three means we can all keep the people who are important to us."

"I'll do it!" declared Rose. "I'm miserable without you," she confessed shyly.

"I'll call Pete," sighed Jackie.

"Tell him to pack all my sketchbooks and photo albums, if nothing else!" instructed Rose.

"Thank you for doing this," the Doctor breathed, taking her hand.

"You're ridiculous! You should know by now that I'd follow you anywhere, even to a shitty beach in Norway," she joked, nuzzling her head against his suited shoulder. "When I last stood on that beach, on the worst day of my life, what was the last thing you said to me?"

"I said, "Rose Tyler.""

She sidled out of the hug disappointedly. "Yeah, and how was that sentence gonna end?" she prompted him.

"Does it need saying?"

She gave him a look which clearly said, 'Are you taking the piss?' before turning away from him.

"Rose I…" she looked up at him expectantly. "Never mind." She smiled sadly and started to walk away. The Doctor felt a crushing weight in his chest as he was struck by a reminder of his dream. "No!" he shouted suddenly. Everyone looked up at him, shocked by his exclamation. "I mean no." he said much quieter. "Rose I… I… I j-just," he stuttered at her, "I'm speechless! Me speechless. I want to say that... I want to say it," he blurted frustratedly.

Everyone was looking at him like he was crazy. "You want to tell me what?" she asked him gently.

"I want to tell you that I'm sorry for dragging you to that horrible beach in Norway. But on that beach you said…" Rose took a sharp intake at breath at his words. "… and it was important. And I want you to know… I _need_ you to know –"

"Doctor," Rose interrupted, her voice thick with emotion.

"No, give me a minute." He took a big breath. "I _need _you to know that I love you. I am in love with you. So totally, hopelessly, completely, entirely, irrevocably and _ridiculously_ in love with you. I think I've known for a while. No I know I've known for a while, but I couldn't admit it until you were gone, and I don't mean out loud, I mean at all." There was a silence, no one moved. "I love you," he repeated.

"Oh!" Rose gasped. "Does this mean I get a kiss that I can remember," she joked, giving him her sexy tongue smile.

"Later," he grinned, "we've already given Donna enough ammo." He looked down confused. "How did I get on the jump seat?"

"You kind of leapt mid confession," laughed Jenny. "Less sugar, more sleep. Anyway come on, you have reached you're destination and all that."

"So we're going then," smiled Sarah Jane sadly. "Goodbye Doctor."

"It isn't!" the doctor huffed indignantly.

"Doctor, don't do this to me, you know I need the goodbye. Just in case."

"No, I won't say it because this isn't goodbye! I promise that I will come and visit you. This isn't goodbye, this is see you later. Wait here." The doctor suddenly jumped up and disappeared down a corridor. Sarah Jane let out a sigh. He burst back into the room, arms laden with two large boxes. "Alright Sarah Jane, eyes closed." She complied, in a long suffering manner, like he was an overexcited toddler. He took the lid off the first box, revealing an opera cape. "This is for the nosy little journalist that couldn't keep that nosy nose of hers, out of mysterious blue boxes." He wrapped the cape round her shoulders. "No, no, no. Eyes closed, I want you to get the full effect." He opened the second box and pulled out an extremely long, stripy scarf. "Now this, this one shows you that I promise to come back, because I really enjoyed being me number four," he told her winding the scarf round her neck multiple times, then pulled the blank scanner screen in front of her.

Sarah opened her eyes and let out a little sob, before throwing her arms around his neck. "You know, you act like such a lonely man. But look at you. You've got the biggest family on Earth!"

"I do, don't I?" he grinned.

"Gotta go! He's only 14. It's a long story. And thank you! Come see me anytime!" The Doctor waved at her, smiling. Sarah Jane waved back, then turned around and took off out of the TARDIS doors, running into the park on the outside.

The Doctor, Martha and Jack stepped out after her into the sunshine. The Doctor soniced Jack's wrist device. "I told you, no teleport!" he scowled, deaf to Jacks huffing. "And, Martha, get rid of that Osterhagen thing, eh? Save the world one more time."

"Consider it done," she nodded. Jack saluted, and so did Martha. The Doctor seemed surprised for a moment, then saluted half-heartedly back. Jack and Martha walked away hand in hand.

"You know, I'm not sure about UNIT these days. Maybe there's something else you could be doing," Jack suggested.

The Doctor watched them go, with a touch of sadness in his smile, but he's see them again. Mickey appeared from the TARDIS. "Oi, where are you going?"

"Well I'm not stupid, I can work out what happens next. And hey, I had a good time in that parallel world, but my gran passed away. Nice and peaceful. She spent her last years living in a mansion. There's nothing there for me now, certainly not Rose."

"They're not staying there either. The Tylers are returning to this universe. What will you do?" he Doctor asked him.

"Anything! Brand new life! Just you watch," Mickey grinned, fist bumping him. "See you, boss." He ran after Jack and Martha. "Hey, you two!"

"Oh. Thought I'd got rid of you," Jack huffed in mock exasperation. Mickey threw his arms around their shoulders. The Doctor watches them for a second, then returned to the TARDIS.

"Doctor, can you take me home?"

The Doctor looked up, horrified. "You want to leave?" He stared at Donna as if he couldn't imagine the possibility of her loss.

"Not for good you dimbo! I just think I should spend some time with them, you know, make sure they're all right after the invasion. You didn't think that I'd…"

"I didn't think so, it's just, Martha did so… next stop, Nobles residence!" he changed topic cheerfully.

…..

As soon as Donna had knocked on the front door it was hurled open by Wilf. "You're safe sweetheart! Oh thank goodness you came home!"

"You can't get rid of me gramps!"

"Oh Donna! Donna you're back," Sylvia cried giving her a hug. "You! How dare you show you're face here, after the Danger you put my daughter in?"

"Okay if you're gonna slap me can you do it on this cheek, otherwise I'm gonna get a wonky looking face," the Doctor pointed and then winced for impact.

"Why would I slap you?" asked Sylvia incredulously.

The Doctor gaped at her. "And I thought nothing could surprise me! Not only are you a mother, and it's always the mothers, but you _hate _me, and are the mother of the extremely violent and slap happy Donna!"

"I'm not slap happy, spaceman!"

"'Your friend, just before she left, did she slap you in the face?' SLAP 'stop _bleeping _me!" the Doctor quoted mockingly, raising his eyebrows, daring her to contradict him. Donna fell into an angry defiant silence. "Yeah! Nyehheheh! Doctor one, Noble nil."

"Keep going and I'll change my mind!" Donna threatened.

"Gotta go people to see…" the Doctor turned to go back to the TARDIS. "Take care Wilf!"

"Don't leave it too long chickenshit! I'm talking a week max and then I want to be traveling again, safe flight! Well as safe as it can be with you driving…" Donna waved as he rolled his eyes and shut the TARDIS door.

"Time for one last trip. Darlig Ulv Stranden. Better known as... Bad Wolf Bay." He ran to the console. "Jackie I don't have much time, because of the Dimensional retroclosure, I need you to call Pete and tell him exactly when and where to meet us, and when. Tell him sorry but Norway gives us the most time, because the walls of reality are thin there." He waited until she had made the call before resetting the coordinates and landing them.

The TARDIS materialised on the beach. Jackie, Rose and the Doctor emerged. "So we stay on the TARDIS until we find a place?" asked Jackie. "There's four of us now. I was pregnant, do you remember? Had a baby boy!"

"Ah, brilliant! What did you call him?"

"Doctor," nodded Jackie, straight-faced.

"Really?" the Doctor asked her, taken aback.

"No, you plum! He's called Tony," Jackie smiled.

"You fell for that one!" Jenny laughed at him. "Who would call their child Doctor?"

"Your name isn't Doctor?" asked Jackie incredulously.

"Of course it isn't!" scoffed Rose. "Mum did you really think that was his name?"

"Well I never really thought about ti! I mean he's an alien…"

"Hello, I'm and alien and my name is Jenny, just Jenny, nice and normal," Jenny laughed.

"Yeah but that's cos Donna named you! My kids had brilliant names," he reminisced.

"I still can't believe you had kids!" Jackie shook her head.

"Costella, Trito, Miranda and Vega. An eclectic mix of names. I was a rubbish father… Miranda hated me because I stole her daughter!"

"You what?!" yelled Jenny.

"Susan. I travelled with her before she fell in love and gave up the universe for a life of domestic bliss with a human called David. I was exiled, and I nicked her before I went," he finished his little story with a sad affectionate little smile on his face. "I still miss that girl."

"Why were you exiled?" Rose said as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"I broke the rules. There are the rules of time, which you never interfere with, well unless you're Rose." She looked away, embarrassed at the memory. "But the main time lord rule, was to observe yet never interfere. I interfere a lot, it has to be said, and I can't just walk away. It doesn't work like that. The other _big_ rule was not to fraternise with humans, so when the exiled me, earth was where I went. My cousin was involved in pushing me out, he wanted to create a child, only forty five Galifreyan, permitted per house, family basically. Our uncle died in battle, leaving a space, and I got there first and my fourth child was made. I don't regret it, Vega was a Daddy's girl, she had me wrapped around her little finger." He grinned a silly, melted, mushy grin.

The three women were watching him, enrapt. "There is so much you've never talk about," whispered Rose.

"Yeah. You three are the only people who know. You admit one big thing and then the rest of your soul comes pouring out after it. I'd appreciate if you didn't tell the world," he said, shaking her head indulgently. Jenny opened her mouth. "Yes you can tell Donna, That was a pre-emptive answer. Damn I'm good! Look, its Pete." In the distance an old land rover was driving towards them.

…

Please review! I need feedback, I bared my soul too!. Xxx

Thank you soooooo much for the support everyone.


	25. Chapter 25 Talk to me

Sorry it's been so long! I owe you all huge, but there is literally no Wi-Fi in the Brecon beacons! I recommend NOT holidaying there in February half term either!

…

Two people rushed out of the beat up old land rover, one middle aged and balding, one two feet tall, with fluffy strawberry blonde hair that tickled his chin.

"Pete!" yelled Jackie, running forward into his arms, like she had all those years ago in torchwood tower. "Tony! Hello sweetheart, come to Mummy," she grinned.

"Rose! You's back," squealed the little boy, running past his mother and hurling the weight of his body into Rose's outstretched embrace. "You's been gone forever!" He added accusingly. "Daddy saided two whole months!"

"Oh I missed you too my little man. I hope you've been taking care of things while I've been gone big guy!" Rose said in a mock stern voice as she brushed his hair back from his eyes.

"I has," Tony announced, proudly puffing out his little chest. "Who's them?" he gestured to where Jenny and the doctor were standing, leant against the closed doors of the TARDIS and watching the Tyler's reunite with quietly happy smiles.

The Doctor stepped forward and held out his hand. "You must be Tony! Tony Tyler of the Tyler's, I'm the Doctor, pleased to meet you sir," the Doctor smiled at him. Rose and Jenny rolled their eyes at his antics.

"No way! The Doctor? Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Doctor? Rose's Doctor?" gaped Tony, shaking the Doctor's hand vigourously with his tiny fist. The Doctor nodded encouragingly. "You gotta be shitting me!" the three year old cried with glee.

"No Tony, No. None of that. No more bad words," Jackie scolded him. "Rose I told you not to swear in front of him."

"But Mummy! He saided he is theeeeee Doctor! He… he…" The loud little voice was drowned by the wind as Jackie carried him over to the jeep to give him a proper scolding.

"Hello Darling," Pete squeezed Rose into a hug before turning around to face the Doctor. "Doctor, you're back then." Pete's stance was cold and defensive. "I will give you this word of warning, if you break my daughter's heart again, I will make you regret it… and set my Jacks on you."

"I promise, I will never let our Rose be hurt, ever again," The Doctor vowed solemnly, his eyes wide and honest, filled with tender emotion.

"Then we're good," declared Pete, holding out his hand. They shook hands, offering each other a smile. "Is anyone going to introduce the shy one at the back?" The Doctor followed Pete's line of vision, to where Jenny was still leaning against the TARDIS door, her feeling of awkward-outsiderness, showing plainly on her face.

"Of course! Pete, this is my daughter Jenny, Jenny this is Pete, Rose's Father," he gestured between the two.

"Pleased to meet you," smiled Jenny quietly.

"Same to you sweetheart. Doctor, what do you mean a daughter, are we talking long lost? How long has it been since canary wharf?"

"For me, two official years, and one that never happened that I don't really want to talk about… Okay let's get a move on, we have twenty six minutes and fifty three seconds to get everything from the jeep into the TARDIS!" There was a flurry of activity as they relayed bags and boxes of memories from the car to the console room.

"Is that everything?" asked Rose, eyeing the sizable pile.

"Everything that matter's," Pete reassured her. "All the photos, photo albums, your guitar, all your sketchbooks, Tony's toy's, and our clothes. And crates of money to get us started up again in your world. Oh and I mailed our letters of resignation to Torchwood."

"Do we get rooms then?" asked Jackie.

The Doctor piloted the TARDIS into the vortex, leaving Pete's world, as the gap between the two parallels collapsed and closed. "Of course you do!" beamed the Doctor. "Everybody gets a room."

"Is my room still here?" Rose asked him, looking up at him and grinning his favourite grin.

"I never get rid of anyone's rooms! I moved your room though, I didn't want anyone a snooping, and by anyone I mean Jen. And yes I do know about your expedition into my little gallery Jenny!"

"How did you know!?" squealed Jenny at the same time as Rose asked, "You have a gallery?"

"Let's get everyone settled and I'll take you up there."

…

They were all gathered outside a door, a door made of a silvery grey wood, with Gallifreyan writing inked on in circular formations. "I don't show people this room. It's important to me, sentimental value… much from my past, and tonight… just for tonight, I am willing to be asked questions," The Doctor breathed heavily, resting his hand against the door. Rose gave his other hand an encouraging squeeze. The door swung open silently, giving way to a large room, the walls covered in many curtains, like there were many different sized windows scattered about at different heights. In the middle of the room was a large table, surrounded by chairs, like a table from a boardroom, piled high with over a hundred sketchbooks.

"Are they all your sketchbooks?" Jenny whispered, not wanting to break the spell.

"Most of them, but not all, and some are just writing. But most of the portraits on the wall are mine. Some of the others are original time lord art. Everyone grab a chair then. You know this was the strategy room, for when TARDIS's were needed to fight the wars. Hence the table. This room basically stores my past now." They gathered some chairs and sat facing each other in an informal circle.

"What happened since the battle of canary wharf? After our interrupted goodbye?" Rose asked him solemnly.

"Well Donna appeared! Quite literally, two seconds after the connection broke, I had a sassy, angry readhead, in her wedding dress, threatening that she was going to 'sue the living backside off me'. As if it was my fault she was in my TARDIS. I'll let Donna tell you the rest of that one, she didn't want to travel with me, I did offer. After that I met Martha, it was meant to be one trip, to say thank you, but one turned into two or three or four, and when I took her back to her family, her mother slapped me because she came to the conclusion that I had whisked her away and …" The Doctor cleared his throat. "Anyway I got railroaded into staying at this party thing with Martha and her family, a monster happened, we solved the problem, and I offered Martha one more trip. She said she wouldn't unless it was a permanent thing, so she started traveling with me properly. We got chased to 1914, I rewrote my biology to human, suppressed my memories, and ended up falling in love with a woman called Joan. Got my Gallifrey genes and my memories back and was … well I didn't feel the same. That was rough, we escaped though. Met up with Jack. We went to the end of the universe, only to find that I wasn't the last time lord after all."

"There's more of us?" yelled Jenny.

"Not anymore." The Doctor's eyes had darkened. "He died. In my arms, to get one up on me. He refused to regenerate to spite me, and his last words, 'I win'. Making my cry was his final victory," The Doctor's voice held a numb tone. "Of all those to survive, It had to be him." He shook his head. "The man who had been both my closest friend and my nemesis."

The atmosphere was solemn, as they regarded the Doctor's brooding demeanor. "And then Martha left. She couldn't handle the tragedy and she said that if I couldn't see that she loved me then I wasn't worth her time. Now _that, that_ was a shocker! Though in hindsight, it was pretty obvious. Travelled alone for a bit, and then bam, I ran into Donna again. She had been hunting me down, and we started traveling. Martha called me to help sort out some problems on earth, gave her a trip, unintentionally this time, and ended up on a little planet called…" he raised his eyebrows at Jenny.

Jenny looked back at him blankly and then suddenly, "Oh, me! Messaline. And I was progenated! And you had daughter number four! And we met Agatha Christie and River Song and then the stars were going out and the daleks, and then we met you people! Well I met you anyway."

"Number four?" choked Pete.

"What were your children like Doctor? Do you miss them?" asked Rose tentatively.

"To be brutally honest, I don't miss them much. I don't think about them very often because it hurts, but when I do, it's crushing. I'm missing them a lot more lately. Jenny helps and she doesn't, she prove that part of me isn't dead and buried, yet that makes me miss them more. Costella was the eldest, almost identical to Jenny, but Stella had a different nose. She was my first loomed. She looked like my first incarnation, and I named her after my mother." He leapt up and ran to one of the numerous curtains. Pulling a string on the side, he revealed a portrait, beautifully painted, of a woman with stick straight, caramel coloured hair with a little girl on her lap, a little girl who looked like a tiny version of Jen. Both were wearing sparkly megawatt grins. There were a scattering of symbols across the top of the page. The Doctor traced the symbols with a finger. 'The two Costella's.'

"Twelve years later we loomed a son. Carrie's brother had been killed by the daleks, so we named him after Trito –"

"Carrie?" asked Jackie.

"Carudula, my other half at the time, my wife."

"Is she the one who –" began Jenny.

But The Doctor cut her off, "renounced me and took up with my cousin? Yes she was. Anyway, unfortunately my son and I did not always see eye to eye, he felt my rebellious action had given the house a reputation that he was judged by, and he wanted to become a high council member. We made totally different life choices. My third child was Miranda, I named her after a very important human woman. She looked like her mother. She didn't pass the time lord aptitude test, but she was a sweet girl, very shy. Her nature was like her Mother's too. Now the baby of the family was Vega, and I loved that little girl. She was a bossy little madam, who ran the household, and had me wrapped around her little finger. She has most of my features, but she had her mother's bone structure. She was the most like my character. She passed the aptitude test with flying colours, ran away from home twice, and demanded I taught her everything I knew. She was the only one I took to my TARDIS."

"So Miranda wasn't a time lady then?" pressed Jenny.

"No she wasn't. But Costella was the Archer, Trito was the Architect, and little Vega was the Deviant," he grinned fondly.

"The Deviant?" Jackie sputtered.

"She wanted to make her mark. She didn't half appal the higher ups! She graduated with full marks, a girl, at a time when President Rassilon was considering banning girls from the academy, chose that for her name and refused to work for the high council. I was so proud of her!"

"Did you love your wife?" probed Jenny.

"I was fond of her, and yes I suppose I did. But not when I married her, no. The people I have fallen in love with since make her pale in comparison."

"Have you ever had sex with an alien?" blurted Jackie.

"Mum!" protested Rose.

"What? I bet you're wondering!"

"By alien, do you mean alien to me or you?"

"Either."

"Well yes. And no I won't elaborate, if you want to speculate go talk to Donna, apparently she has a ton of theories."

"If you didn't love Carudula, then why did you marry her?" Jenny asked him, perplexed.

"It was arranged, what Ulysses, my farther, wanted of me. The house of Lungbarrow was extremely presigios, and yes, it does sound much better in Gallifreyan, we were named after a mountain. That's as close to my name as you're getting Jenny, so if you want a surname, that's what it is," he babbled. "Anyway, the union of the Noble houses was expected, and although I like to rebel, and I didn't mid a bit of a reputation regarding the rules, I would not actively bring shame on my family and the family offering the bride."

"Doctor Lungbarrow!" scoffed Jackie.

"No, when you chose a name, that title is all you go by. However Jenny Lungbarrow over there…" he gestured. She was bouncing in her seat.

"Can we see more pictures?" Rose requested. The Doctor took her hand and lead her over to a stretch of wall. The others followed.

He opened the first curtain. "This is my first incarnation, when I was an adult on Gallifrey." The picture showed a tall blonde man with a slightly shy, slightly mischievous lopsided smile and blue eyes. He was right, Jenny looked like him but feminised. He kept walking to the next curtain, and pulled it open. "This is my first incarnation when I was over three hundred and I had let it age to pieces." And old Man with slicked back hair and deep creases in his face looked Down at them, the smile slightly haughtier, the eyes the same.

"You look so old!" gaped Rose.

"Well I was traveling with Susan at the time, so it was sort of appropriate that I looked the part," he joked back. He opened the next one. "My second incarnation, regeneration number one. If I had had a child in this body, or any model later, I would still have given it the genes from my first body. I was the cosmic hobo, and considerably less grumpy than I was towards the end of my first body." He moved on. "This is me number three. My TARDIS was grounded, and would you believe it, I got a job at Unit. I was a right laugh in this body! Now this, this is me number four, one of my personal favourites! I mean check out the scarf. I had an obsession with Jelly babies, much like my current Jam and marmalade addiction, only I shared them. I was crazy. Me number five. Mental about cricket. Check the brainy specks! Dunno why I thought the celery was a good idea though. I was very sweet, everybody told me so. I died to save Peri's life, and turned into… me number six, and I was mean –"

He was interrupted by a round of raucous giggling. "What the hell were you wearing!" snorted Jenny, who was being held upright by a hysterical Rose.

"All right, not my finest hour, but if you're going to poke fun, I'm moving on. Me number seven. Not too proud of this one, I think my moral compass got a little bit wonked up along the way. I like the hat, but I don't know what possessed me to wear that god awful jumper! Me number eight, look at the cheekbones, I say this was one of my better ones. Lat's just say I pulled a lot, and tried to distract myself from the biggest war of time that was beginning. A brutal war I wanted no involvement in." The Doctor walked past the next picture to the one beyond.

"Why did you miss one? What's behind there?" Jenny reached forward to pull back the curtains.

"No Jenny. That is the soldier. He was me, but he wasn't the doctor, if that makes any sense. And I never want that opened. Now this one, you'll recognise this one Rose! Tadah! Old big ears. I did like that jacket, this is the me that was broken, and you fixed me, and I'll always be grateful." He smiled down at her, eyes locked, a half shy half mushy grin on his face.

"I liked that you too. You weren't half volatile though!" she laughed back.

"Ooooooh! Who's this then, she's pretty," cooed Jenny.

"Jenny!" cried the Doctor, hurrying over to where Jenny had unveiled a picture. It was a photograph, but deep. A moment frozen in time. "Time lord art," he explained shortly. The doctor was there, young and blond, wearing sweeping red robes, with a girl on his back, piggyback style, gripping his shoulders and laughing, her calf length red hair frozen mid swish, like a cape. "That's Vera," the Doctor's voice was choked.

"Who was she?" asked Jackie gently.

"She was my sister and I loved her. She was the only one who ever told me she was proud of me, and she was the bravest most spectacular person I think I have ever known," he sighed.

"Will you tell us?" encouraged Rose, stroking his arm gently.

"She was younger than me, but only by about twenty years, so we were really close. She was so clever, but my father, ever the traditionalist, refused to let her take the aptitude test. She threatened, and this is before she redeemed her regenerational potential, that she would end her life in her body, unless she was permitted to take part. He said no, so she did. He didn't expect her to do it, but she was a determined little thing. And she began to die. Our mother gave her years of her life, and she ended up regenerating fully, into an adult body. Extremely bossy and now with red hair, remind you of anyone?"

"Donna!" laughed Jenny.

"As an adult she was now too old to take the aptitude test, but she wrote to me while I was in the academy, and told me how proud of me she was at my rebelling against the system. She kept me sane while I was at my loneliest. Well her and Koschei. But that is another story for another day! I'll show you to your rooms. Tomorrow you've got house hunting to do!"

Here's a link for how I imagined Vera's hair. Please give me feedback! Mwah x

photos/48397960 N08/9082661586/


	26. Chapter 26 Lipstick kisses

Sorry it's been so long. I'll try and update more frequently. Help us out with some feedback, I need to know where you want me to take this.

…..

After showing the Tyler's to one of the guest rooms, the Doctor and Rose meandered down the corridor, hand in hand. "I like it when it's just us. It feels like nothing's changed, like we were never separated," Rose confided, nuzzling his arm softly with her face.

The Doctor smiled down at her. "You did that on our 'first date'. Are we gonna go for chips then?" he teased. "People change, and change is good. But if one thing stays the same, I want that to be us. My Rose Tyler, how long are you going to stay with me?"

"Forever!" Rose laughed in ecstatic disbelief.

"There's one last place I haven't shown you." They climbed a circular staircase, appearing on the landing with the tall arched doorways. Light was spilling out from one. "That's Jenny's room… and this…" he pushed open the tallest door "… is mine." The room was enormous, and cluttered, half antique shop, half museum. "The gallery holds the memories of my past, this hold the physical mementos."

Rose gaped as she took in the array. There were clothes everywhere, spread across the floor and several ancient looking tables. The outfits of the old Doctors, long red robes, chest plates, sculpted shoulderpad-collars, covered in Gallifreyan writing, a blue pinstriped suit, and chucks in different colours. "Talk about boy's room! Dirty laundry on the floor. Have you never heard of a washing machine? Tell you what my mum would have a fit if she saw this! I thought my room was bad, think of the lecture you'd get…" she teased him.

"At least I don't have lipstick kisses on my mirror!" he elbowed her.

"Have you been in my room!?" she gaped in mock outrage.

"Of course I have, it reminded me of you," he replied, with complete sincerity. "Besides it smells like you in there…" he trailed off, looking embarrassed that he'd said it.

"Really, so what do I smell like then," she grinned at him.

He stepped behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder, burying his face in her neck. "Perfume…" sniff, "fruity shampoo…" sniff, "and _Rose…_" he breathed out, warm breath tickling her.

Her heart skittered and her breath hitched. "Doctor?"

"Mmmmm?"He hummed against her skin, letting his lips rest just under her ear.

"Is it later yet?"

"I suppose…" he kissed her softly, making he shudder backwards into him. "…why are you asking?"

"You promised me a kiss, a… a proper kiss that I would … ooh… remember…" she gasped. He suddenly let go of her. She turned around, and he crashed into her.

"Whoa!" he caught her. "That wasn't my smoothest moment," he blushed.

"Are you blushing?" she laughed. He looked away. "Hey, hey! Look at me you. You've never been smooth, now kiss me, my Doctor." She carded her fingers in his hair and held his eyes with a challenging expression. With one hand at her back and one cradling her face he kissed her. There were no fireworks, no bright light or choirs of angels singing. This kiss was real. Long anticipated, hot and heavy with three frantic heartbeats trapped between them, chest to chest. Rose tugged his hair as he bit her lip, before she broke away with an exhilarated giggle.

"What's funny?" he grinned, stroking his thumb across her cheek affectionately.

"I just can't believe this is happening! And I can't believe how natural it feels, not weird or anything, you know?"

"Well it's been a long time coming miss Tyler," he smirked. "Ever since I saw you all dressed up in Cardiff, before we met old Charlie boy. You look beautiful, considering nothing. My pink and yellow human."

"What changed?"

"There are so many great girls in the universe, but they aren't perfect. And however close they get, they aren't you." Rose started to protest. "I know you don't think you're perfect, but I don't want you any other way. And anyway, do you really think this pit is my whole room? No no no…" he soniced the wall, and it began to roll to the side.

Rose could hear the sound of windchimes, and light spilled from the opening in the wall. They stepped into what appeared to be a balcony. Were they outside? She looked up to see a huge glass domed ceiling, a swirling nebula visible in the night sky. She looked down over the smooth dark wood rail. A garden spread beneath them, a meadow of red grass, and a grove of tinkling silver trees, the walls, curving up to meet the dome, were painted a bright orange. On the balcony was a large metal bed, the head and foot board made up of an intricate web of thin black metalwork, embellished with gold, the swirling Gallifreyan script making a frame, and covering the bed were thick, burnt orange sheets. "Wow!"

"This is my little piece of home. All I have left, and I've never shown anyone before." He aimed for nonchalant, but Rose could tell this was costing him emotionally.

"It's beautiful," she smiled at him as she took his hand. "Is this where you always disappeared to then?"

"Well yeah, it's the equivalent of missing your mum!" he joked.

"It means a lot that you let me in," she kissed him softly. "Why now? You used to be so closed off. I mean I like the new openness, just… why?"

"I don't think I realised how much I opened up around you when we travelled together, and then after I lost you… well from then on I couldn't shut up, Martha got the worst of it, because I kept mentioning you, and Donna knows when I need to talk. Jenny is… well Jenny! She's desperate to learn everything, so I talk continuously. You set the ball rolling really, another of the huge impressions you seem to have made on me. You know when I told you I'd been a dad once, well that was massive. I'd never told anyone before. It's you!" he babbled, before jokingly flopping back on the bed, as if, exhausted.

"Well I always felt that I could talk to you, a strange man who asked me to get in his box, tell me it travels in time and I'm yours," she laughed, sitting next to him and hugging her knees. They looked at each other for a long moment. "I should go," she whispered, unmoving.

"Please stay," he whispered back, holding her hand. "It's like you're still just a dream…" he yawned and his eyes fluttered. "Stay with me Rose.

"Doctor you're knackered! Get in bed, come on, shoes off," Rose sighed. He kicked off his shoes, scooted up the bed, flopping face down on his front before releasing a groan and then a soft snore. He still hadn't let go of Rose's hand. "Typical! Like a bloody toddler, all hyperactive energy and then he's asleep in seconds. He's worse than Tony." She lay down next to him and closed her eyes, squeezing his hand before falling asleep.

….

"Ah Jenny, have you seen Rose? Cause I can't find her anywhere. Oh and while we're finding things, is there a kitchen anywhere?" Jackie was holding a struggling Tony in her arms.

"Sure this way, and I'm not sure where her bedroom is, because dad moved it from the companions' corridor, so I couldn't snoop. But they both went into his room last night, and I don't know if she left again, because I went out like a light and slept like a log," Jenny told them as she sashayed into a clinically white kitchen and began riffling through the giant fridge. "Oh help yourself, but I wouldn't touch the jams if I were you, he eats them with his fingers."

"His room?" gaped Jackie.

"I know right? He doesn't let anyone in there. I don't know what he's hiding, but he's an incredibly private person. You could try knocking, but you might have to wait till they come out. Ooooh Chocolate spread!"

"Yes!" yelled Tony.

"Could you do some of that for Tony? I've got a daughter to lecture," Jackie declared, before marching from the room. She came to a tall spiral staircase and began to climb, she climbed through several rooms, a library with a large swimming pool in it, and a room full of a thousand outfits, before reaching the landing. The tallest door stood ajar, and giggles could be heard from within.

"mmm! Oh that is sooooo good," sighed Rose.

"Shut up and give it to me!" growled the Doctor.

Jackie's eyes widened in horror, she turned and ran back down the stairs. She would deal with this later, but no Mother should have to hear that.

Rose took another bite of toast. "Mmmmmmm. Oh Doctor, I can see why you love marmalade so much."

"Stop hogging it and give it here!" he demanded, nodding towards the plate piled high with toast and marmalade.

"I refuse to feed you, you big baby! Just be grateful I've brought you breakfast in bed, now sit up you, or you'll get crumbs everywhere," she mock lectured him, passing him the plate.

"Thank you for staying," he said sincerely, stroking her hair with his free hand.

"I would say it was my pleasure, but I may need a week to recover. You're a monster."

"Is it my snoring," he asked sheepishly.

"Oh no that was relatively quiet, it was the kicking, the duvet stealing and the hyperactive fidgeting. And would you look at that, the last of the almighty time lords, dribbling on his pillow."

"Almighty time lords do not dribble!" He sat up, peeling the sticky pillow off his face. "…much…" he added quietly.

"You _are _a big baby," she giggled, holding his hand. "Now do you reckon you can eat five pieces of toast in the time it takes me to finish this one?" she grinned at him and raised a challenging eyebrow.

"Oh easy! I can finish the plate in the time it will take you to finish that one and eat two more," the Doctor boasted.

"Well prove it then, big gob." She shoved the rest of the piece in her mouth and chewed like a mad thing.

"Not fair I wasn't ready!" He protested, making a grab for the plate. Rose just shrugged and kept chewing furiously.

…

After a tense marmalade munch, championed by a rather ill looking Doctor, who was going to be suffering from indigestion for a week, they made their way down to the kitchen. Rose burst into the room, wearing a pink dinosaur onesie she had left in the wardrobe of her room in the TARDIS. Jenny, Jackie and Tony looked up.

"I still won," the doctor grumbled.

"You could have been a gentleman and let me finish first," teased Rose.

Jackie choked into her muesli. "That is enough! Rose Marion Tyler, that is disgusting! And in front of your little brother! And Jenny is in the room. Do you really think Jenny wants to know that about her father?"

Rose and the Doctor looked at each other in bemusement before turning back to her. "I'm sorry what?" asked Rose.

"It's bad enough that you were at it like rabbits this morning, which I disapprove of Rose, you've only just got back together, but now you're talking about it. I'd like to think that I raised you better."

"We were not 'at it like rabbits' this morning thank you very much! I don't think much of your disapproval either, Tony was born almost exactly nine months after we got stuck in Pete's world. And even if we were, it's none of your business, and would be about time to!" Rose yelled!

"That's what I said," smiled the Doctor.

"No, I mean I haven't had sex in over three years," Rose elaborated. The kitchen was quiet, other than tony banging a knife against a glass, and the Doctor making a funny little choking noise.

"You're talking about sex! Oh. Well that makes more sense. This whole conversation left me behind," exclaimed Jenny suddenly, breaking the silence. They all looked at her. "I'm three and a half weeks old! You should be surprised I'm doing this well people! And you're right, ewww, I don't want to hear this." She got up and left the room.

Please review, lots of love! Mwah mwah mwah. xxx

Anyone who loves John barrowman, Russell t Davis. Catherine Tate and David tenant has to watch this:  watch?v=giaMRyn47Xg

If you watch it please tell me what you think, because I pissed myself laughing. Images of Johnnie B getting his… anyway. Pahahahahahahaha. Rofl. Lmfao. Please watch and then message me.


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